Minnesota passes law banning AI nudification apps

In short: Minnesota passed a law to ban apps and services that can turn real photos into fake nude images without consent.

What happened

Minnesota lawmakers approved a new state law that targets “nudification” apps, tools that make it easy to “undress” a real person in a photo using AI (software that can generate new images based on patterns it learned from lots of examples).

The Minnesota Senate passed the bill 65 to 0 after it moved quickly through the House. Governor Tim Walz is expected to sign it. If he does, the state plans to start enforcing the ban in August.

Under the law, developers of websites, apps, and other services designed for nudification can be sued by victims for damages, including punitive damages. Minnesota’s attorney general can also seek civil fines of up to $500,000 per fake AI nude that is flagged. The state can also try to block offending products in Minnesota.

The bill was introduced after residents discovered that a Minnesota man used an app to create fake nude images of more than 80 women he knew socially. Supporters said existing laws did not clearly cover the situation if the images were created but not shared.

The law is written to focus on tools that make nudifying “one click” easy. It includes an exemption for products that require significant technical skill to do the same thing, which supporters said was meant to avoid unexpected impacts on general tools like photo editors.

Why it matters

For regular people, this law is meant to stop a specific kind of harm at the source, creation. It also raises practical questions about enforcement, especially for apps run overseas, and whether other states or the federal government will follow with similar rules.

Source: Arstechnica