A federal appeals court ruled that Minnesota cannot enforce it’s ban on artificial intelligence that allows users to alter images to depict nudified pictures or “intimate parts” while a constitutional challenge is on appeal.
“We are disappointed in the Eighth Circuit’s decision and respectfully but strongly disagree with it,” a spokeperson for the attorney’s office said in a statement to WCCO. “Minnesota’s nudification ban outlaws AI technology products from generating sexual images that harm and harass people in the vilest way possible. We will continue to vigorously defend the law as the appeal proceeds and we are proud to do so.”
Minnesota’s AI Nudification Ban
The first-of-its-kind law bans the process of taking a real image of an individual and using AI to turn it into a pornographic or sexual image. Not surprisingly, the bill passed unanimously in the Senate earlier this year and received support from all but one lawmaker in the House before being signed into law by Governor Tim Walz in May. Despite this move, an appeals court ruled that the ban cannot go into place until a ruling can be made on the original appeal over Minnesota’s nudification ban. Musk and his team still have to win their original appeal, but while that appeal is ongoing, Minnesota can’t enforce the ban.
We’re all for individual rights and freedoms, but just like you’re not free to yell “Bomb” on a airplane, you shouldn’t be able to take a normal picture of someone, run it through AI and generate sexualized or nudified pictures. Many people already have a hard enough time discerning what is real and what is artificially generated, and the idea that a friend, family member, child or loved one could have a harmless picture turned into a sexualized image because of this technology is a nightmare.
We’ll keep an eye on the original appeal as that case plays out, but for now Minnesota’s AI nudification ban has been lifted because of a ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
If you or someone you know has been victimized by revenge porn or you need help for a different type of criminal matter, connect with Avery and the team at Appelman Law Firm today at (952) 224-2277.
