A US appeals court has paused enforcement of Minnesota’s law against tools that generate realistic intimate imagery from identifiable people’s photographs. xAI obtained interim relief after a lower court rejected its request in September. The company’s free-speech challenge continues, and Minnesota says it will keep defending the measure; the law’s constitutionality remains undecided.
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has granted interim relief in xAI’s challenge to Minnesota’s synthetic-nudity law. Enforcement is paused while the appeal proceeds. xAI, the company behind the Grok AI service, had sought to stop the measure after losing its request for an injunction in the district court in September. The appellate decision is temporary; the constitutional challenge continues.[1], [2]
The Minnesota law took effect on August one. It prohibits developers from providing products that allow realistic intimate body parts absent from an identifiable person’s original image to be generated. The measure therefore concerns alteration of an existing image. xAI argues that the restrictions violate constitutional free-expression protections and affect Grok. The company also says the service has safeguards against misuse.[1]
District Judge Donovan Frank had rejected xAI’s earlier request, citing a lack of demonstrated irreparable harm and delay in seeking relief. xAI disputes that timing assessment. John Stiles, spokesperson for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, expressed disappointment with the appellate ruling. The state says it will continue defending the law, which it presents as protection against harm from manipulated photographs, including child sexual-abuse imagery.[1]
