IT Home reported on October 4, citing Reuters, that Elon Musk’s xAI persuaded a federal appeals court on Friday to pause a Minnesota law. The Eighth Circuit, based in St. Louis, issued a temporary injunction at xAI’s request and put the law on hold. Last month a trial court refused to pause it. The case is still going. This is not a final ruling on whether the law is constitutional.

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A columned courthouse with an open laptop and a black screen sitting in front of the steps.
The courthouse is still there, and the laptop screen is black. That is a ban put on hold, with the case not finished. An illustration, not a news photograph., AI-generated illustration, not a news photograph

The anti-nudification law took effect on August 1. It bars website operators, software developers, and others from letting users generate realistic images that depict an identifiable person’s intimate body parts when those parts were not in the original photo. xAI argues that the law limits speech protected by the Constitution. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said on Friday that it was disappointed, and that the state will keep defending the law while the appeal continues. Spokesperson John Stiles said the ban is meant to stop AI products from generating pornographic images that harm and harass ordinary people in a severe way.

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District Judge Donovan Frank ruled last month that xAI had not shown it would suffer irreparable harm while challenging the law, and that the request for an emergency pause came too late. On appeal, xAI disputes the finding that it delayed. It also says Grok Imagine already has protections meant to stop nude or sexualized images of real people, and that it has sued users who made sexual images of others without permission. The state had asked the appeals court not to pause the law. It said this year’s statute is meant to curb what it called a staggering volume of child sexual abuse material, and it named products such as Grok Imagine as tools that generate that material. Those are the two sides’ claims. The article does not describe how any protection was gotten around, and that is not added here.

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要点

  • The Eighth Circuit paused Minnesota’s August 1 anti-nudification law at xAI’s request. A trial court refused that pause last month.
  • The attorney general is disappointed and will keep defending the law. xAI cites speech protection and says Grok Imagine already has blocks.
  • The state says the law is meant to curb child sexual abuse material. This is not a final ruling. No method of getting around a block is included.