More than 50 EU lawmakers from across political groups have asked the European Commission to confirm whether “AI-powered nudity” apps are banned in the EU, according to a letter seen by Euractiv.
The letter comes amid global outrage over Elon Musk–owned AI tool Grok, which was found to have generated deepfake images of undressed women and children. Grok’s parent company, xAI, said it had disabled the tool’s ability to generate such images on Thursday.
“These systems should be banned from the EU market,” lawmakers wrote, referring to Grok and other AI-driven tools that allow users to generate manipulated intimate images. They said such tools facilitate gender-based online violence and the creation of child sexual abuse material.
“It is unclear whether these systems are currently banned from the EU market, which leaves legal loopholes,” the lawmakers added.
In the letter, lawmakers asked the Commission to clarify whether all AI-powered ‘nudify’ systems are prohibited under the EU’s AI Act or other EU legislation. If not, they urged the Commission to add such applications to the list of prohibited AI practices under the AI Act.
While the Commission has asked social media platform X to retain all internal documents relating to Grok, using its powers under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the lawmakers warned that “only tackling these AI systems on a small number of very large online platforms is insufficient.” The DSA currently applies only to 25 so-called very large online platforms in the EU.
Lawmakers are also expected to debate this matter, as reported earlier by Euractiv next Tuesday.
(aw)