Lawmakers, advocates hope Minnesota AI "nudification" ban will move forward despite Elon Musk lawsuit

A first-of-its-kind bill banning AI "nudification" technology is set to go into effect in Minnesota on Saturday, though it faces a lawsuit from billionaire Elon Musk.

Lawmakers said they're hopeful that the bill — which bans technology that creates fake, non-consensual sexualized images and videos of people — will withstand judicial scrutiny. Companies that do create the images could face a civil penalty of up to $500,000 and the people who have been victimized can seek damages.

Musk's company xAI filed a lawsuit Tuesday, claiming the bill violates the First Amendment. 

While xAI says it "does not contest Minnesota's interest in prohibiting the dissemination of artificially generated nude images of real people without their consent," the law "extends far beyond that goal" and exposes a "wide array of protected speech to civil liability and government sanctions," the civil complaint says.

"I cannot believe we are having this conversation, and the audacity to come to Minnesota, that is the first but not the last state to protect children and the people within this state," said state Sen. Erin Maye Quade, a Democrat who authored the bill in the Senate. "When the richest man in the world is suing you because you want to protect kids, you have to wonder — why doesn't he want them protected?"

The bill passed unanimously in the state Senate earlier this year and was supported by all but one lawmaker in the House. 

Maye Quade says the law does not regulate art or content, but regulates the conduct of making sexualized images of people. She said that while writing the bill, no tech company came forward to say that it would hurt their business, and the ones that did contact her worked with lawmakers to ensure that their product was not implicated. 

"Part of the reason you don't see a multitude of tech companies suing the state of Minnesota over this law is because it really doesn't implicate them at all, usually, I guess just one," she said.

Maye Quade said she started working on the bill two years ago after a group of women told her that a man in their life had taken photos off their social media accounts and turned them into hyperrealistic sexual images and videos. He had done this to more than 80 women, she said.

The technology "allows anyone to take a picture of us at the gym, walking around Lake Nokomis or attending a Lynx game, put it into an app and turn it into a hyperrealistic pornographic video," Maye Quade said.

It also allows people to easily create child sexual abuse material, she said.

State Rep. Jessica Hanson pointed to a study from the Internet Watch Foundation that showed an explosion in AI sex-related content. In the past year, there's been a 26,000% increase in AI-generated child sexual abuse videos, the IWF report says.

Lawmakers from across the country and political aisle have since reached out to her, and she expects more than a dozen states will see similar bills implemented next year.

Attorney General Keith Ellison said Tuesday he'll review Musk's lawsuit and response in court. 

"But I know that using AI to generate nude images of people against their will is appalling," he said about the lawsuit. "There are plenty of worthy debates to have about AI policy. This is not one of them. AI nudification robs the target of their dignity and can cause immense harm on an emotional, personal, and professional level."

In response to the lawsuit, Walz tweeted, "See you in court, creep."

A judge has yet to rule on the lawsuit but could temporarily delay the law should they side with Musk before Saturday.

WCCO has reached out to Musk's lawyers for comment.