Europe is clamping down on AI-generated material on social media platforms that it says violates its laws. The move thrusts Europe back to the center of AI regulation after pressure from Big Tech and the US set it up for a watered down approach.
The EU and UK are looking into Elon Musk’s Grok model for allowing users to create “suggestive and explicit” images of minors, multiple media outlets report. The platform introduced a “spicy” mode last year and has marketed the AI as an edgier, less restrictive alternative to mainstream chatbots — though Musk said anyone using the service to generate child sexual material would “suffer the same consequences” as if they uploaded it themselves. The issue has drawn attention from other governments as well, including India and Malaysia.
The European Commission is also looking into AI-generated misinformation spreading on TikTok encouraging Poland to withdraw from the EU, at the request of the Polish government, according to an official. The representative said the content violates the social media app’s guidelines by not being labeled as AI-generated and suggested TikTok does not adequately monitor AI content, undermining Europe’s social media laws.
The instances allegedly violate Europe’s long-established rules against child sexual material and disinformation rather than its new and more contentious AI Act. Still, a win for European regulators could draw support for its original, stricter approach to managing AI at a time when its trajectory is in flux.