IAs that generate sexual images will be prohibited in the EU from December

A this measure had already been approved by the European Parliament (EP) last week in Strasbourg and, in order to be able to enter into force, it only needed the final approval of the EU Council, which represents the governments of the 27 Member States.

In a statement, the EU Council states that this measure will be included in the European law on Artificial Intelligence (IA), which will prohibit “AI practices related to the creation of unaccepted sexual and intimate content or child sexual abuse material”.

“ AI systems that generate nude images of real people or that edit existing photographs to virtually remove clothing and expose private parts will be banned from December of this year”, says the institution.

This measure had been proposed by both the EP and the EU Council after the European Commission decided in January to open an investigation into Grok, the social network X AI tool, for the dissemination of sexually explicit images, including content likely to constitute sexual abuse of minors.

According to a report from the Center for Combating Digital Hate (CCDH) and the American newspaper The New York Times, in January, Grok flooded that network with about three million sexualized images for 11 days, including 23,000 children and 1.8 million women.

In today’s press release, Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’s European Affairs Minister – a country currently holding the rotating presidency of the EU Council – argues that by banning these AI systems, the EU “is sending a clear message that technological progress must go hand in hand” with the safeguarding of the “fundamental values” of the bloc.

This measure was agreed under the review of the European AI law, which had been proposed by the European Commission in November with the aim of simplifying the regulatory framework currently applied to AI systems.