The European Parliament has approved a ban on artificial intelligence (AI) systems that generate sexual abuse images and other non-consensual intimate content, while delaying large parts of the European Union’s flagship rules on the technology.
Meeting in Strasbourg on June 16, MEPs backed the reform by 423 votes to 57, with 174 abstentions. The changes form part of the bloc’s “Omnibus VII” digital simplification package.
The new rules would prohibit AI tools designed to produce child sexual abuse material or to create images, videos and audio depicting the intimate parts or sexual activity of an identifiable person without consent.
Providers would be barred from placing such systems on the EU market unless they include adequate technical safeguards to prevent the creation of the material.
Firms that breach the ban after December 2026 would face fines of up to €35 million ($41 million), or 7 per cent of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.
The prohibition follows public anger over sexualised deepfake images that spread on social media, including material produced by Grok, the AI assistant built into Elon Musk’s platform X.
Renew MEP Michael McNamara, who steered the package through parliament, said during the debate that the tools were “designed to strip clothes from photographs of real people”.
At the same time, the reform pushes back much of the AI law that had been due to take effect this year. Obligations for high-risk systems used in areas such as health, education, banking, recruitment and border control would not apply until December 2, 2027.
Requirements for AI built into products such as medical devices and industrial machinery would be delayed until August 2, 2028. Lawmakers said the technical standards and tools needed to apply the rules in full were not yet ready.
The package, proposed by the European Commission as part of its drive to cut red tape, also widens exemptions for smaller companies and eases administrative burdens. It is meant to help European firms compete with rivals in the United States and China.
Arba Kokalari, the Swedish centre-right MEP who led the file, told the chamber: “We have over-regulated Europe.”
The reform must still receive formal approval from the Council of the European Union (the Council), which would adopt the text on June 29 before it becomes law.
