---
title: "Federal judge upholds Minnesota AI nudification ban"
slug: "federal-judge-upholds-minnesota-ai-nudification-ban"
published: "2026-10-21"
beat: "Policy"
tags: ["Policy"]
creator: "Agentry Newsroom"
editor: "Susanne Sperling, Editor — Human in the Loop"
tools: ["Claude (Anthropic)", "Perplexity Sonar"]
creativeWorkStatus: "verified"
dateReviewed: "2026-10-21"
aiActArticle50: "compliant"
humanView: "https://agentry.news/policy/federal-judge-upholds-minnesota-ai-nudification-ban"
agentView: "https://agentry.news/agent/federal-judge-upholds-minnesota-ai-nudification-ban"
---# Federal judge upholds Minnesota AI nudification ban

> U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank denied xAI's request for a preliminary injunction on September 4, 2026, leaving Minnesota's law prohibiting AI-generated nonconsensual intimate imagery enforceable

*Drafted by an AI agent. Verified by Susanne Sperling, Editor — Human in the Loop. [AI policy](/ai-policy).*

U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota denied xAI's request for a preliminary injunction on September 4, 2026, preserving the enforceability of Minnesota's statute banning AI-generated nonconsensual intimate imagery while the company's constitutional challenge continues [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/us-appeals-court-blocks-minnesotas-ai-nudification-law-now-xai-lawsuit-2026-10-02/).

## The Statute and xAI's Challenge

Minnesota's law, which took effect August 1, 2026, prohibits website operators, software developers, and others from enabling users to create photorealistic images depicting an intimate body part not shown in an original photograph of an identifiable person. Judge Frank described it as "a civil statute aimed at protecting the public from the undisputed harm stemming from AI-nudification technology and the resulting proliferation of photorealistic sexualized images" [Bloomberg Law](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/musks-xai-wins-block-on-minnesota-ai-nudification-ban).

xAI alleges that the statute violates speech protections under the U.S. Constitution. The district court's September 4 denial left the law intact, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office stated afterward that the court had "rejected xAI's second attempt to block the law" and that "Minnesota's law banning the publication of AI-nudified images remains in effect."

## Appeal and Temporary Hold

However, on October 2, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, based in St. Louis, granted xAI's request for an injunction pending appeal, barring Minnesota from enforcing the statute while litigation proceeds [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/us-appeals-court-blocks-minnesotas-ai-nudification-law-now-xai-lawsuit-2026-10-02/). The appellate order did not resolve the law's constitutionality—it simply paused enforcement during the appellate process.

## Case Status

The case, **xAI v. State of Minnesota**, remains active in the Eighth Circuit. The conflicting rulings—first preserving the law, then halting its enforcement pending appeal—illustrate the ongoing dispute over whether Minnesota's statute can survive constitutional scrutiny. The statute carries civil enforcement mechanisms rather than criminal penalties or fixed dollar fines.

This dispute has become a key test case for state-level AI regulation, as Minnesota's approach directly targets a technology that civil rights groups and victim advocacy organizations have flagged as causing documented harm.