EU backs nude app ban and delays to landmark AI rules

European lawmakers have voted to delay key parts of the EU AI Act, the bloc’s flagship law for regulating artificial intelligence, while also backing proposals to ban nudify apps.

EU backs nude app ban and delays to landmark AI rules

The proposals would push back looming deadlines for watermarking AI-generated content and high-risk AI systems.

The measures, approved by a large majority in the European Parliament, would push back compliance deadlines for developers of high-risk AI systems — those deemed to pose a “serious risk” to health, safety, or fundamental rights — until December 2027. Companies developing AI systems covered by sector-specific safety rules like toys or medical devices would have even longer to comply, with a proposed deadline of August 2028. Rules requiring providers to watermark AI-generated content would also be delayed until November 2026. All of these measures had originally been set to take effect this August.

Members also backed proposals to include a ban on nudify apps in the revised AI Act. There are no details on what this might look like, though it “would not apply to AI systems with effective safety measures preventing users from creating such images.” The decision follows widespread outrage in the EU over the flood of Grok’s sexualized deepfakes on X earlier this year.

The vote extends a period of uncertainty for businesses operating in Europe, which have already faced delays after the EU missed its own deadlines to publish key guidance and changed elements of the law. It is also unclear whether the proposed changes can be implemented before the original August deadline, as parliament cannot unilaterally change European law. Parliament must now negotiate with the European Council, a body made up of ministers from all 27 member states, over the final text.