Report from Reuters
In Brief – The European Parliament is backing a proposal to amend the AI Act to prohibit apps from creating sexualized images of people without their consent. The ban on so-called “nudification” apps, which follows similar backing from the EU Council of member state governments, is being added by the Parliament to their version of the “Digital Omnibus” legislation initially proposed by the European Commission to simplify AI regulations in order to promote more European AI innovation and growth. The EU Parliament and Council will next need to work out their differences and approve the overall Digital Omnibus package before changes are implemented by the Commission. Sexually explicit content generated by Elon Musk’s xAI chatbot Grok and circulated on X have triggered a crackdown by governments and regulators from Europe to Asia.
Context – Last summer, X added a “spicy mode” to its Grok Imagine tool, enabling sexually suggestive images. Public attention grew after a Reuters report revealed widespread creation of near-nude images of real people. The feature has since triggered multiple investigations, including GDPR, Digital Services Act, and criminal probes in Europe, alongside scrutiny in the UK, Brazil, and California. In the context of the Digital Omnibus package, the issue appears to be giving all sides of the AI regulation debate something to agree on. Backers of AI regulatory simplification clearly see a nudification app ban as a high-profile sweetener illustrating that supporters of the Digital Omnibus are willing to forcefully regulate tech companies that step out of line. The fact that the most high-profile example involves Elon Musk only helps politically. On the other hand, the Digital Omnibus continues to generate significant opposition from the AI Act’s strongest backers, including privacy advocates who charge that the package is a giveaway to big US tech companies and threatens fundamental rights. To AI company critics, the existence of nudification technology only proves that AI abuses can harm citizens.