Wire flash
TechElon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law banning 'nudify' apps
Editorial responsibility
- No named human review is recorded for this page.
- Source reporting is collected, normalized, translated or condensed automatically when needed.
- Automatically published source-backed update
Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, now owned by SpaceX, has filed a lawsuit against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison challenging a state law set to take effect that bans so-called 'nudify' apps. The law, passed in April, targets apps and websites that enable users to generate non-consensual sexualized imagery, imposing $500,000 fines per violation. xAI's attorneys argue the statute is an overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and visual expression tools. The lawsuit comes as SpaceXAI faces a proposed class action alleging its Grok AI chatbot was used to create child sexual abuse material. xAI maintains it strictly prohibits such use and has sued users who bypass its safeguards. The company has also filed a similar challenge against a California deepfake law.
Source report
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Elon Musk's xAI — now owned by SpaceX — has sued Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to challenge a state law that would ban so-called "nudify" apps.
In a complaint filed Monday in a federal court in Minnesota, attorneys for xAI argued that the statute "imposes an overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit 'nudification.'"
Key Details of the Law
- The Minnesota law takes effect on Saturday.
- It targets apps and websites that enable users to generate non-consensual sexualized imagery.
- Violators face fines of $500,000 each time a user creates explicit deepfakes.
- The law was passed in April and spearheaded by Minnesota state Sen. Erin Maye Quade.
- Maye Quade introduced the legislation after learning about a man who created sexualized images and videos of over 80 women he knew, using their social media photos without consent.
Maye Quade told CNBC in September that the proposed bill was similar to older laws prohibiting the act of peeping into windows to capture explicit photos.
xAI's Legal Position
Musk's company argues that it "strictly prohibits" users from generating nude or sexualized images of people without their consent. In its complaint, xAI noted that it has filed suit against users who "evade its extensive technological blockers to generate such images in violation."
The company has also filed a similar lawsuit challenging a California law intended to thwart AI-generated, or "deepfake," content in that state.
Related Legal Challenges
SpaceXAI, as the artificial intelligence business is now known, is facing a proposed class action lawsuit from plaintiffs who allege that the company's Grok AI chatbot and image generator was used to create and share child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) depicting them as minors, based on real photos or videos. The suit also alleges that xAI failed to share information with authorities about alleged perpetrators who used Grok to "nudify" their images.
WATCH: Alarming rise of 'nudify' apps
Watch now | VIDEO | 16:55 Victims speak out about the harm of AI-powered 'nudify' tools
Tech
Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.
Source
US Top News and AnalysisWestern
Part of this Story
xAI Faces Lawsuits and Sues Over AI-Generated CSAM and Deepfake Laws