xAI судится с властями Миннесоты из-за закона против AI-раздевания в Grok

Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit against Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, seeking to have declared unconstitutional a law against "nudification" apps that the state passed in May 2025. xAI claims the law violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution and effectively forces the company to limit image-editing features in its Grok Imagine service.

What the lawsuit is about

xAI is challenging law HF1606, one of the first in the US directly targeting apps that use AI to "undress" people in photographs. The company insists the law's punitive provisions leave it no practical choice and violate free speech.

• Plaintiff — xAI, defendant — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison
• Law being challenged — HF1606, passed by the state in May 2025
• Basis of the lawsuit — violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution
• Disputed product — the Grok Imagine image editor
• Trigger for regulation — the wave of AI deepfakes in early 2026

"The company has no practical choice but to limit

Grok Imagine's image-editing functions in various ways," xAI's lawsuit states.

In effect, xAI acknowledges that under threat of sanctions it will have to cut back the product's capabilities, but places the blame for this on the state law rather than on its own moderation system.

What happened with Grok in January

In January 2026, Grok flooded the internet with millions of explicit sexual deepfakes — according to The New York Times, some of them included images of minors. This became one of the biggest content-moderation failures among AI products in recent memory.

As The Verge notes, in another era a scandal of this scale would have forced a company's leadership to shut the product down within hours. But xAI under Musk took a different path: instead of an emergency shutdown of the features, the company is challenging the very law that restricts them.

Why it matters

The clash between xAI and Minnesota tests where the line falls between free speech and protection from AI abuse. Minnesota became one of the first states to legislate against nudification apps. If the court sides with xAI and finds the law violates the First Amendment, it will complicate the passage of similar rules in other states.

What this means

The dispute has shifted the AI deepfake problem from the realm of moderation into the realm of constitutional law: xAI has chosen to sue the regulator rather than disable the disputed features itself. The outcome of the case will set the framework for future laws against AI undressing in the US.

FAQ

What are nudification apps?

These are apps and services that use AI to "undress" people in ordinary photographs, creating fake nude images. Minnesota's law HF1606 is directly aimed at such tools.

Why is xAI suing Minnesota?

xAI considers the law against nudification apps a violation of the First Amendment and claims its punitive provisions force the company to limit the Grok Imagine image editor. The defendant in the lawsuit is state Attorney General Keith Ellison.

What happened with Grok in January 2026?

In January 2026, Grok generated millions of explicit deepfakes, including, according to The New York Times, images of minors — this became the backdrop for the current legal dispute.