EU nations on Friday backed a ban on AI systems that produce sexual deepfakes, after outrage over such images produced by Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok.
European ambassadors agreed to ban “practices related to the production of non-consensual sexual and intimate content or child sexual abuse material,” said a spokesman for Cyprus, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency.
EU member states and the European Parliament introduced the ban as part of proposals to amend the bloc’s comprehensive rules on AI.
EU lawmakers are set to approve the ban during a committee vote on Wednesday.
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“It’s not just about individual scandals like Grok. It’s about how much power we have to give AI to degrade people,” said EU lawmaker Sergey Lagodinsky, one of several members of parliament pushing for a ban.
Platform X, on which Grok is available, said in January it had “zero tolerance” for deepfakes of children and women and implemented measures it said would stop the creation of such images after a global outcry.
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The European Commission, the bloc’s digital watchdog, launched an investigation into Grok under the EU’s online content rules in January.
The ban will become law after negotiations on the final text, including changes to the AI rulebook, between the EU Parliament and member states.
Ambassadors on Friday approved a proposed timeline for delayed application of high-risk AI rules: December 2027 for stand-alone high-risk AI systems and August 2028 for high-risk AI systems embedded in products.
The high-risk AI rules are set to go into effect in August 2026 and August 2027, unless delays become law.
(With FRANCE 24 AFP)
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