Musk makes himself an obstacle to Minnesota’s anti-deepfake law

Officials around the world are looking to curb the scourge of artificial intelligence-generated porn and sexually explicit images online, some of which has been shown to be disturbingly childlike. And many have run into a common obstacle: Elon Musk.

Musk, whose brand of internet humor includes volunteering to “give” Taylor Swift a child and cracking jokes about a sexual misconduct allegation against him, has never really seemed serious about stemming creepy sexual behavior on his social media platform, X. And he has come under fire after X launched a tool that allowed users to generate nonconsensual sexually explicit imagery through the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok.

Despite pressure from the Trump administration on Musk’s behalf, the backlash over that tool led to several countries launching investigations. And in Minnesota, lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a law designed to stop AI from being used to stop what’s called “nudification” technology. As CBS Minnesota reported in May:

The bill “prohibits the access, download, or use of nudification technology, except when the website, app, or software requires the substantial application of technological or artistic skill by a human creator directing and controlling the output,” according to the House. It targets programs that use AI to fabricate a nude photo or pornographic video from someone’s image.

Now, Musk’s company xAI is suing to kill the law before it goes into effect in August. Musk and President Donald Trump — both of whom have personally invested in AI companies — have tried to prevent states from regulating them.

As The Associated Press reported:

In the 38-page lawsuit, xAI – whose AI model chatbot and image generator Grok is available on the social media platform known as X, formerly Twitter, and elsewhere – said it does not contest the state’s interest in banning the distribution of AI-generated nude images of real people without their consent. But it said Minnesota’s law “extends far beyond that goal”, banning many constitutionally protected images and video and subjecting the company to a penalty of $500,000 per violation.

It’s worth noting that the Minnesota legislation passed with near-unanimous approval: The House bill passed on a 132-1 vote, while the Senate vote was 65-0. Advocates for the law, including women who say they are victims of the technology, rebuked xAI’s lawsuit at a press conference Wednesday, while Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote on X:

Using AI to generate nude images of people against their will is appalling.

There are plenty of worthy debates to have about AI. This is not one of them. AI nudification robs the target of their dignity and could cause them immense harm on many levels.

I’ll see X in court.

If you asked most people what they would do with their wealth if they were to become the richest person in the world, I suspect few would say they would use their resources to try to kill this law. But here we are.

The post Musk makes himself an obstacle to Minnesota’s anti-deepfake law appeared first on MS NOW.