The European Union is set to ban artificial intelligence tools that generate child sexual abuse material and non-consensual explicit images of adults. Negotiators from the European Parliament and Council agreed on Thursday to prohibit these AI systems, pending formal adoption into law.
The formalisation is expected before early August, covering images, video, and audio. The ban applies to AI systems on the EU market intended to create such content or lacking reasonable safety measures. Companies have until 2 December to ensure their systems comply.
Irish MEP Michael McNamara, co-rapporteur for the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee, said: “We secured a ban on nudification applications, one of our key demands. We fought for it because non-consensual intimate imagery is a systemic harm being industrialised by AI and in which the overwhelming majority of victims are women and girls.” He said it will be the first time such a ban has been enshrined in EU AI law.
The Internet Watch Foundation recently reported a more than 260-fold increase in AI-generated child sexual abuse videos in 2025 compared to the previous year. Video models, nudification apps, subscription platforms and agentic AI systems were enabling offenders to produce and distribute illegal content at scale, the watchdog warned.
Separately, the UK's new Crime and Policing Bill, currently in its final legislative stages, will require social media platforms to remove any non-consensual images reported within 48 hours. Those who do not comply risk hefty fines or having their services blocked in the UK. Nudification tools used for AI deepfakes will be banned under the new rules, and victims of non-consensual intimate imagery will have up to three years to report the crime, up from the current six months.
