More than 50 EU MEPs from various political groups have asked the European Commission to confirm whether “AI-enabled nudity” apps are banned in the EU, according to a letter obtained by the EU. Euractic.
The letter comes amid global outrage after Elon Musk’s Grok, an AI tool, was found to be generating deepfake images of unclothed women and children. Grok’s parent company xAI announced Thursday that it had disabled the tool’s ability to generate such images.
“These systems should be banned from the EU market,” the lawmakers wrote, referring to Grok and other AI-powered tools that allow users to generate manipulated intimate images. They said these tools facilitate the creation of gender-based online violence and child sexual abuse material.
“It is unclear whether these systems are currently prohibited on the EU market and legal loopholes remain,” the lawmakers added.
In their letter, the MEPs asked the European Commission to clarify whether all AI-based “undressing” systems are prohibited under the EU’s AI law and other EU laws. If not, they called on the Commission to add such applications to the list of prohibited AI activities under the AI Act.
The committee is calling on social media platform X to use its powers under the Digital Services Act (DSA) to preserve all internal documents related to Grok, but the lawmakers warned that “working on these AI systems on a few very large online platforms is not enough.” The DSA currently applies only to 25 so-called very large online platforms within the EU.
As previously reported, lawmakers are also expected to discuss the issue. Euractic Next Tuesday.
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