Minnesota's first-of-its-kind ban on AI "nudification" tech now in effect, but not without obstacles

Minnesota's ban on AI "nudification" became law Saturday and Elon Musk isn't happy about it. He is suing the State of Minnesota , claiming the law violates free speech laws. Minnesota passed a first-of-its-kind ban on AI nudification , a process of taking someone's real picture and using AI to put it on a pornographic or sexual image. On Friday, a federal judge denied Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, from banning the Minnesota law from going into effect. Musk argues the law violates constitutional free speech laws, but Judge Donovan Frank allowed the law to go into effect, saying Musk had waited too long to file his motion. While the law is in effect, this issue is not over. The judge has set a preliminary injunction hearing for Aug. 19. "I think being the first in the country to do something is always a big deal; I am really proud of Minnesota for being the first here," said Sen. Erin Maye Quade, who authored the bill. Quade says other states have reached out to her because they want to pass similar laws. She says the ongoing legal battle over the Minnesota law is being monitored around the country. "We took great care to make sure that this law doesn't touch the First Amendment and respects art and only targets the specific image that we wanted to target, which is nudified images that they are not legal," Quade said. Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is defending the state law, says the measure does not inhibit free speech, but merely puts guardrails in place on a tool that has the potential to hurt individual Minnesotans. Musk's company had also objected to the stiff penalty Minnesota is imposing. With the new law in effect, any violation could impose a potential $500,000 fine per offense on platform operators. You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. In: Elon Musk Artificial Intelligence Featured Local Savings