Minnesota Lawmakers Send First-In-Nation AI 'Nudification' Ban To Walz

The bill would require companies to block consumer access to AI tools used to create fake nude or sexual images of real people.

By William Bornhoft, Patch Staff

Apr 30, 2026 12:26 pm CDT

ST. PAUL, MN — Minnesota lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Tim Walz that would ban consumer access to AI "nudification" technology, a move supporters say would help prevent image-based sexual abuse and the creation of child sexual abuse material.

The bill, authored by Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley, passed the Senate 65-0 on Wednesday. The House passed the measure 132-1 last week, with Rep. Drew Roach, R-Farmington, casting the lone no vote.

The legislation would require companies to turn off consumer access to AI nudification technology in Minnesota.

The bill does not ban nude images on social media. Instead, it targets AI tools that allow users to create fake nude or sexualized images of identifiable people, including tools offered through websites, apps or other online services.

Maye Quade first brought the bill forward in 2025 after a group of women told lawmakers they had been victimized by a man who used photos from social media and personal photo albums to create hyperrealistic, nonconsensual AI sexual images of more than 80 women in his life, according to her office.

"Today, we led the nation protecting women, children and everyone in public life from the harm caused by AI nudification technology," Maye Quade said in a statement.

"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."

Roach said the material created with nudification technology is "disgusting" and "vile," but argued the bill targets software makers rather than the perpetrators, according to the Minnesota House.

Maye Quade credited victim-survivors who pushed for the bill, saying their advocacy was the reason the legislation passed.

"They have had a singular focus on passing this legislation so that what happened to them does not happen to any Minnesotan, ever again," she said. "I look forward to Governor Walz’s signing this bill into law."