EU lawmakers support ban on AI apps generating explicit images

By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, March 18 (Reuters) – Key EU lawmakers, who are influential in shaping changes to Europe’s AI Act, on Wednesday backed a ban on AI apps which create unauthorised sexually explicit images and urged that the bloc’s landmark rules agreed two years ago include this ban.

The move comes a week after EU countries voted on a similar proposal ahead of talks between the lawmakers and EU governments on the European Commission’s plan to water down parts of the AI Act so as not to lose ground in the global tech race.

The European Parliament will vote on the group’s proposal on March 26. Lawmakers and EU governments will then have to thrash out their differences before the changes proposed by the EU executive can be implemented.

“A proposal to ban so-called nudification apps I believe is something that our citizens expect of the co-legislators,” said lawmaker Michael McNamara, who is leading the forthcoming discussion with EU countries.

Sexually explicit content generated by Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok on X, as well as sexually intimate deepfakes produced by Grok, have triggered a crackdown by governments and regulators from Europe to Asia.

The lawmakers also voted to delay certain rules on high-risk AI systems to December 2 next year, saying that key standards may not be finalised by August 2, which could create uncertainty for companies. This was in line with EU countries’ position.

The AI Act will be implemented in phases.

(Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Bernadette Baum)