New Delhi, Aug. 2 -- MINNEAPOLIS - The women Grok targeted do not have to wait for a final court ruling to get legal protection in Minnesota. A federal judge handed them that much on Saturday, refusing to put the state's nation-first ban on AI-generated intimate image apps on hold while Elon Musk's xAI continues its legal challenge.

U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank denied xAI's request for a temporary restraining order, allowing Minnesota's law to take effect as scheduled on August 1. The ruling does not end the broader legal fight; xAI will still get its day in court on August 19. But for now the law is operative, carrying $500,000 fines per generated nonconsensual intimate image and covering any app or website capable of producing con...