A federal judge on Friday denied Elon Musk's xAI company from stopping Minnesota's "nudification" law from taking effect starting on August 1.
xAI, which runs the AI-chatbot Grok, accused Minnesota's new law banning nudification technology of violating the First Amendment due to its content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression.
In Friday's decision against granting a temporary restraining order, the judge wrote, "The Court respectfully denies the request for a temporary restraining order before tomorrow. xAI filed the motion on July 29, 2026 nearly three months after the law was signed, and only three days before the law is set to take effect. Such a delay in bringing the action and the motion suggests the harm is not immediate."
DFL State Senator Erin Maye Quade wrote the legislation and addressed the judge's decision in an Instagram post.
"This is huge. Minnesota will be the first state, we will not be the last state," Maye Quade said. "This is a huge deal. I'm just so excited that it's gonna happen. Minnesota won."
xAI faces multiple lawsuits regarding Grok's ability to generate non-consensual sexualized deepfakes and child sexual abuse material.
In a post on X, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote, "I'm proud to be in court defending the dignity of Minnesotans."
Last December, the Trump administration actively challenged state-level artificial intelligence regulations through an Executive Order, "Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence". The policy establishes a Department of Justice AI Litigation Task Force to sue states over AI rules deemed unconstitutional or burdensome to interstate commerce, while tying federal broadband funding compliance to state cooperation.
xAI also is involved in a separate federal lawsuit against Colorado challenging its artificial intelligence anti-discrimination law.
