Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have hit out at Elon Musk for trying to “stop” an artificial intelligence (AI) “nudification” law from passing. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s charitable foundation Archewell Philanthropies published a statement on its website praising Minnesota’s decision to outlaw AI “nudification” applications this week, after the decision passed the state Senate with a unanimous 65-0 vote.

They described it as landmark legislation and “an example of leadership fit for the digital age: a bi-partisan decision to stop technology from enabling predatory behaviour disproportionately targeting women and children”.

The Archewell spokesperson also took a shot at “big tech”, accusing major firms of “taking shocking steps to limit restrictions on or accountability for these objectively predatory AI product features”. They singled out Mr Musk’s Grok AI, part of his X social media company, noting that the “trillionaire” had “sued the state of Minnesota to stop the law from going into place”.

The spokesperson accused companies like X of “mitigating risk to their bottom line instead of aggressively responding to the clear evidence their product features are enabling predators to prey on women and children”.

“Nudification” applications use generative AI to produce deepfake nude images images of real people, often without their consent.

It’s not the first time the couple have spoken out about online dangers for children, with the Duchess of Sussex warning that it amounted to a “public health issue” earlier this year.