Court Rejects Musk's Attempt to Block Law Banning Deepfakes — Engadget
A U.S. federal court has denied a motion by SpaceXAI (formerly Elon Musk’s xAI) to block a new Minnesota state law that bans apps and websites from creating intimate deepfakes without people’s consent.
District Judge Donovan Frank refused to halt the law, which took effect on August 1. In his ruling, he noted that the company had failed to demonstrate immediate harm resulting from the law’s enforcement. The judge also pointed out that the lawsuit was filed only on July 29—nearly three months after the law was signed and three days before it took effect.
At the same time, the court will continue to hear the case. A hearing on SpaceXAI’s request for a preliminary injunction against the law is scheduled for August 19.
The Minnesota law is the first in the U.S. to ban services capable of using artificial intelligence to create realistic intimate images of people without their consent. The law also provides for fines of up to $500,000 for developers for each instance in which users of their products create such content.
In its lawsuit, SpaceXAI argued that the law violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. The company stated that it does not dispute the need to combat intimate deepfakes, but considers the law too broad and capable of restricting protected forms of visual self-expression.
Previously, the Grok chatbot, developed by xAI, faced criticism for its ability to generate sexualized images of real women and children. Following this, the company announced changes to the service’s policy.
This was reported by Engadget.
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