AI image tools have met a hard state-level ban in court, and xAI did not win the first round. Minnesota's law against “nudification” apps took effect on August 1 after Senior U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank denied xAI's emergency request for a temporary restraining order.
The Court Focused on Timing
“Such a delay in bringing the action and the motion suggests that harm is not immediate.”
The court record shows that Governor Tim Walz signed the bill on May 6. It passed the state House 132 to 1 and the Senate 65 to 0. xAI filed its emergency motion on July 29, only three days before the law was due to take effect.
The denial is procedural rather than final. The court will treat xAI's motion as a request for a preliminary injunction, with a hearing set for August 19. For now, the ban is enforceable.
The Target Is the Tool Gate
The law bars sites and apps from letting users generate realistic nonconsensual intimate images of identifiable people. Developers can face civil penalties of up to $500,000 per violation.
xAI argues that the statute is overbroad, lacks a safe harbor for good-faith moderation, and reaches protected expression. Minnesota argues that the harm is direct enough to regulate the tools, not only the people who misuse them.
Why Grok Matters
Reporting from AP, Engadget and The Next Web places the case against Grok's earlier image-generation backlash. xAI says its terms ban harmful and privacy-violating uses, and that it has tightened controls. The state is testing whether policy language is enough when the product itself can make the harmful image.
The practical watch point is August 19. If Minnesota keeps the law in force, image and video AI companies will need stronger controls for real-person likenesses, regional compliance, logs, appeals and child-safety reporting before launch.
Sources: Minnesota Attorney General court order, AP, Engadget, The Next Web, CocoLoop, KARE 11; checked the temporary restraining order, penalty ceiling, vote counts, hearing schedule and xAI claims.