Appeals court temporarily blocks Minnesota's AI nudification law
The Eighth Circuit granted xAI a temporary injunction while its constitutional challenge continues; the court has not decided the law's ultimate validity.
A temporary halt during litigation
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit temporarily halted Minnesota’s AI “nudification” law on October 2 while xAI pursues its constitutional challenge, Reuters reported. The law, which took effect August 1, restricts operators and developers from allowing users to create realistic images of intimate body parts that were not shown in an original photograph of an identifiable person. A district judge had refused xAI’s earlier request for emergency relief in September. The appeals court’s injunction changes enforcement during the case; it is not a final ruling that the law violates the Constitution.
The opposing arguments
According to Reuters, xAI argues that the measure restricts speech protected by the U.S. Constitution. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said it was disappointed by the appellate order and would continue defending the law as the appeal proceeds. The state says the law addresses harmful sexualized images, including material involving children. Reuters reported that xAI says its Grok Imagine tool has protections against generating sexualized images of real people. Those claims are the parties’ positions in an active lawsuit, not findings established by the temporary injunction.