Overview
- A federal judge denied xAI’s emergency request on Friday, July 31, and ordered the challenge to proceed as a preliminary-injunction motion, so Minnesota’s law goes into effect on August 1.
- HF 1606 bars tools that generate or alter images to depict an identifiable person nude without consent and imposes civil penalties of up to $500,000 for each unlawful access, download, or use.
- xAI sued last week saying the statute is a content-based, overbroad restriction on the First Amendment and sought a pause to enforcement; the company says it already blocks nonconsensual nude image generation.
- Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison opposed the emergency pause, telling the court xAI waited months to sue and that the law is needed to prevent harassment and child sexual abuse material.
- The law is the first of its kind to target providers upstream, and its survival or suspension after the August 19 hearing could shape how other states and platforms regulate AI image tools and protect victims.