# xAI Sues Minnesota to Block AI Censorship Power Grab > Source: > Published: 2026-07-29 15:41:26+00:00 Minnesota is using the threat of deepfake porn to set a dangerous precedent for government control over AI, and Elon Musk’s xAI is taking the state to court to stop it. The real stake isn’t protecting women—it’s giving the state the power to ban entire categories of AI-generated content. Once the government can regulate one type of AI output, it can regulate all of it. The law, signed by Gov. Tim Walz and set to take effect August 1, slaps a $500,000 fine on developers every time a user generates a nonconsensual intimate image using their tools. It’s the first law of its kind in the nation. The legislation was sparked by a case where a man created sexualized deepfakes of over 80 women he knew. Rep. Jessica Hanson argued the state needed to "ban nudification features" because they allow users to create non-consensual content, including child sexual abuse material. No one is defending that creep. But xAI is pointing out the trap in the law’s text. The lawsuit against AG Keith Ellison argues the law is an "overbroad, content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit 'nudification.'" xAI notes it already prohibits nonconsensual nudes and even sued a South Carolina user who bypassed its blockers to generate illicit imagery. The problem is the law’s reach. According to the lawsuit, there is "no safe harbor for good-faith efforts." Liability attaches even if the depicted person consented—or created the image themselves—and even if the image is never shared. The law would technically apply to images with "artistic, scientific, political, satirical, educational, medical, or religious value." That’s not a narrow ban on revenge porn; that’s a government veto on visual expression. Walz responded to the lawsuit with the kind of middle-school maturity you’d expect: "See you in court, creep." The establishment press is framing this as a fight over deepfake porn, but xAI warns the law will force it to "restrict Grok Imagine's image-editing features in various ways" when the statute takes effect. "Protected speech freely available before the law takes effect will thus be chilled," the company argues. If Minnesota can regulate one type of AI output under the guise of safety, it can regulate all of it. The founders didn't fight for a government veto on the printing press, and they wouldn't stand for one on AI.