Elon Musk’s xAI filed a complaint in federal court on Monday, seeking to block Minnesota’s newly enacted “nudification” law that targets AI‑generated non‑consensual intimate images. The firm contends the statute, slated to become operative on Aug. 1, 2026, violates the First Amendment by sweeping a broad range of speech under a strict‑liability regime.
Under the law, a company whose users produce just ten prohibited images could face up to $5 million in civil penalties. If a thousand images are generated, the fine jumps to $500 million; and for a hundred thousand infringing images— a figure the complaint says is “not at all unlikely” for a publicly available program with millions of users—the liability could soar to $50 billion. The statute also grants victims the right to sue the AI provider over any individual output, further amplifying the financial exposure.
xAI argues that the penalties are “so severe” that the company has “no practical choice but to restrict Grok Imagine’s image‑editing features” once the law takes effect. In the lawsuit, the company says it would prefer to leave Grok unchanged, relying instead on its existing terms of use, which already ban the creation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and non‑consensual intimate images (NCII). The complaint stresses that the firm would continue to enforce bans and could still remove offending content under its policies.
To defend its position, xAI invokes the First Amendment, describing the Minnesota measure as a “clumsy attempt to prohibit ‘nudification’” that “sweeps in a wide range of fully protected speech.” The company points to artistic, scientific, political, satirical, educational, medical, and religious uses of nude imagery as examples of protected expression that the law would inadvertently chill. Moreover, xAI notes that liability attaches even when the depicted persons consented or created the image themselves, and even if the image never leaves the platform.
xAI also argues that Minnesota has less restrictive means to curb harms. The firm cites the federal Take It Down Act, which it says already offers a mechanism to address the distribution of illegal content. By invoking existing federal law, xAI maintains that the state’s approach is redundant and overly punitive.
The lawsuit underscores a growing clash between state regulators seeking to curb AI‑generated deepfakes and companies that contend such measures threaten innovation and free expression. If the court sides with Minnesota, AI developers could face unprecedented financial risk, potentially prompting widespread redesigns of image‑generation tools. Conversely, a ruling in xAI’s favor could set a precedent limiting state authority over AI content, leaving the burden of content moderation largely to existing federal frameworks.
Cet article a été rédigé avec l'assistance de l'IA.
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