A federal judge has denied xAI's request for a temporary restraining order against Minnesota's ban on "nudify" applications, allowing the nation's first such law to take effect as scheduled.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank ruled that the Elon Musk-owned AI company waited too long to challenge the legislation. xAI filed its emergency motion on July 29, nearly three months after the law was signed and just three days before its August 1 effective date.

"Such a delay in bringing the action and the motion suggests that harm is not immediate," Frank wrote in his decision.

The law remains in effect during litigation

The ruling does not end xAI's lawsuit against the ban — it simply means the law can proceed while the case moves through the courts. Minnesota's legislation prohibits apps that use AI to create non-consensual sexualized images of real people.

In its legal challenge, xAI argued the ban is "overinclusive" and claimed "there are far less restrictive alternatives that function to achieve the same ends." The company has not specified which aspects of its Grok chatbot might be affected by the new restrictions.

The lawsuit comes after users of Musk's X platform exploited xAI's Grok AI to flood the social network with non-consensual sexualized images earlier this year. The incident prompted investigations and led to user bans on the platform.

Minnesota's ban represents the first state-level attempt to regulate AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery in the United States. The legislation specifically targets applications designed to "nudify" clothed individuals in photos without their consent.

xAI must now pursue its constitutional challenge through the regular court process while complying with Minnesota's restrictions on its AI tools.