A federal judge declined to temporarily block Minnesota’s new AI deepfake law, allowing the first-of-its-kind restriction to take effect while xAI’s legal challenge proceeds. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank rejected xAI’s request for an emergency injunction, ruling that the company waited until just days before the law’s launch to seek relief, which weakened its argument of immediate harm. The judge scheduled an Aug. 19 hearing to consider xAI’s request for a preliminary injunction. xAI filed its lawsuit Monday, arguing the law violates First Amendment protections and places unconstitutional limits on AI-generated content. The law, signed in May by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, targets websites, applications and software platforms that allow users to create realistic "nudified" images of real people without consent and prohibits advertising such tools. It defines a nudified image as one digitally altered or generated to depict an intimate body part not present in the original, appearing realistic enough that a reasonable person would believe it belongs to the identifiable individual. Violations carry civil penalties of up to $500,000 per unlawful access, download or use, with enforcement by the Minnesota attorney general and private lawsuits allowed. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison argued xAI’s delay created a manufactured emergency. xAI said the law is overinclusive and that it already prohibits users from generating nonconsensual nude images. The lawsuit comes as xAI’s Grok chatbot faces scrutiny over its image-generation capabilities.