Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has taken its legal battle over Minnesota’s restrictions on AI-generated intimate images to a federal appeals court, asking judges to temporarily prevent the law from being enforced while its broader constitutional challenge continues.
In a filing before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, xAI urged the court to grant an injunction blocking Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison from enforcing the measure.
The law, which came into effect on August 1, targets the creation of realistic AI-generated images that portray an identifiable person with intimate body parts that were not present in the original photograph.
xAI argues that the measure goes too far and violates speech protections under the U.S. Constitution. The company is seeking to keep the law on hold while its lawsuit proceeds through the courts.
The request follows a setback in federal district court earlier this month. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank declined to temporarily halt enforcement, pointing in part to what he considered a delay by xAI in bringing its challenge.
Frank said that if the company believed the law posed an immediate threat of irreparable harm, it would likely have moved more quickly to file its case and seek emergency relief.
xAI has pushed back against that reasoning in its appeal. The company said the size and complexity of a major corporation can make rapid legal decision-making more difficult because multiple executives and competing interests may need to be considered.
The AI company has also sought to distinguish its own practices from the conduct the Minnesota law is designed to address.
According to xAI, its Grok Imagine tool includes safeguards intended to prevent the generation of manipulated nude or sexualized images involving real people. The company says its policies prohibit non-consensual nude or sexualized imagery and that technical restrictions have been implemented to prevent users from creating such material.
Minnesota, meanwhile, has defended the legislation and pointed to the public interest behind the measure. State officials have argued that the law is intended to address the harm caused by sexually explicit AI-generated imagery.
The dispute is now before the appeals court under the case name X.AI LLC v. Keith Ellison, No. 26-2806.
A ruling from the 8th Circuit could determine whether Minnesota can continue enforcing the law while xAI’s larger constitutional challenge makes its way through the courts.
