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On Friday, the ambassadors of the EU member states reached an agreement on a European ban on AI systems capable of generating sexually explicit images without the consent of the person concerned. This was reported by a spokesperson for the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The proposal follows the controversy that arose earlier this year surrounding Grok, the AI assistant of Elon Musk’s X. At users’ request, the chatbot generated millions of nude images of real people without their consent, including minors.
Following global outrage, X stated in January that it had a “zero-tolerance” policy towards sexualised deepfakes of children and women, and introduced measures which, according to the platform, would put an end to the production of such images. However, the undressing feature remained available on Grok’s website, Reuters reported. The European Commission launched an investigation into the AI assistant at the end of January.
The ban is part of a move to simplify AI legislation. The Commission proposed this in November.
Federal minister for digitalisation Vanessa Matz announced on Thursday that Belgium supports the proposal. “Belgium usually abstains due to a lack of internal consensus, but this time we are joining the countries that are most ambitious in terms of protecting citizens, particularly girls and women, who are more often the victims of this kind of abuse,” she said in a press release.
MEP Sergey Lagodinsky, who supports the ban, told ‘The Straits Times’: “It is not just about individual scandals such as Grok. It is about how much power we are prepared to give AI to humiliate people.”
The ambassadors of the member states approved the ban today. The European Parliament is working on a similar amendment, which it will vote on 18 March. After that, the member states and the Parliament must still agree on a joint wording.
Rules for high-risk AI would come into force in August 2026 and August 2027, unless the delay is enshrined in law.
Illustration © PHOTO Pablo VERA / AFP
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