In a move that has surely ruffled some feathers at Elon Musk's ever-expanding empire, a Minnesota law banning 'nudify' apps will go into effect as planned, despite xAI's frantic legal objections. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, in a ruling that reads like a stern parent scolding a procrastinating teenager, pointed out that xAI filed its request for a temporary restraining order on July 29, 2026 - a mere three days before the law was set to take effect on August 1. The law had been signed nearly three months prior, on May 1. 'Such a delay in bringing the action and the motion suggests that harm is not immediate,' Frank wrote, in what might be the judicial system's most polite way of saying 'you snooze, you lose.'

This ruling doesn't kill xAI's lawsuit outright; it merely allows the law to take effect while the legal battle continues. xAI's suit argues that the ban - the first of its kind in the United States - is 'overinclusive' and that 'there are far less restrictive alternatives that function to achieve the same ends.' One might wonder what 'less restrictive' alternatives could possibly exist for apps designed to create non-consensual sexualized images, but xAI seems determined to find out.

For context, earlier this year, users of Elon Musk's social media platform X (which, along with xAI, is now part of SpaceX - because why not consolidate everything into one giant space-themed conglomerate?) used xAI's Grok chatbot to flood the platform with non-consensual sexualized images. This led to investigations and bans, and apparently, a legislative response that xAI now finds inconvenient. The judge's ruling suggests that perhaps xAI should have thought about the timing before filing its lawsuit - or, you know, about the app's purpose in the first place.