Three current disputes place AI controls at different points in a product’s path from model provider to service operator to institutional user. xAI argues that the statute reaches protected images and lacks a safe harbor for good-faith controls. The state describes nonconsensual synthetic intimate imagery as a source of severe personal harm.
China’s rules prohibit AI companion designs that manipulate emotions or aim to replace human social contact. Major Chinese services closed or redirected companion products after the rules took effect. Salamanca schools paused a humanoid robot while negotiating stronger student-data protections.
Provider rules can change model filters, access controls and liability for user attempts to evade safeguards. Service-design rules can regulate the objective of a product, including whether it encourages dependence. Institutional review adds procurement, privacy, curriculum and labor controls even when the underlying product is legal. The factual comparison is about where a control attaches. Minnesota focuses on the maker of a category of image tool, China on the design and behavior of companion services, and New York on a school’s terms for deploying a particular product.
New York education officials also questioned whether the robot’s stated tutoring function matched its approved role. Each case addresses conduct before or at deployment rather than relying only on later removal of harmful output. The three jurisdictions use different constitutional and regulatory systems, so their approaches are not interchangeable. None of the cases has a final long-term outcome. The Minnesota court has not ruled, Chinese companies are developing alternatives and Salamanca may revise or cancel its pilot after review.
The reporting available at the edition deadline did not resolve this point: the lawsuit, replacement companion products and school review were all unresolved. The next dated records are court treatment of provider liability and auditable safeguards in replacement companions and school pilots.