“Today, we led the nation protecting women, children, and everyone in public life from the harm caused by AI nudification technology,” Maye Quade said. “Companies that make this technology available for free online and in app stores will no longer be allowed to enable predators who abuse and victimize adults and children with the click of a button.”
Celebrating the law’s passage, Maye Quade thanked “the victim-survivors who made this bill a reality.”
“They have shared their story in committee, with reporters, and with law enforcement with dignity and courage,” she said. “Their power, brilliance, and advocacy is why we passed this bill today. They have had a singular focus on passing this legislation so that what happened to them does not happen to any Minnesotan, ever again.”
A lengthy CNBC report last September exposed how a group of Minnesota friends first learned that a mutual friend was creating fake nudes of dozens of women. The man apologized, but he seemingly did not help identify all the victims. There was no evidence he ever shared the images, so laws like the Take It Down Act did not apply, and proving the man’s ill intent made pursuing penalties under revenge porn laws unlikely, 19th News reported. Horrified that there was no way to ensure the images hadn’t left his computer and no path to stop the man from continuing to generate fake nudes, the women joined Maye Quade in advancing the law to shut down the problem at its source.
One of the Minnesota women targeted, Molly Kelley, told 19th News that she dedicated two years of her life to “finding a solution to mitigate the harm when it’s actually caused, which is at creation.”
“These images don’t exist without a third-party involvement and some sort of machine learning model,” Kelley said.
However, even if Walz signs the law, tensions remain that could frustrate enforcement.
Kelley told 19th News that she’s confident the law can overcome legal challenges, should any US firms sue to block it, but enforcing the law against app makers in other countries will likely be difficult, if not impossible, for a single state. Notably, the service used to attack the Minnesota women, DeepSwap, is operated overseas, at times claiming bases in Hong Kong and Dublin, CNBC reported. Anticipated state struggles to regulate foreign apps is why a federal ban would be preferable, 19th News reported.