Precisely, it's a very transparent attempt at regulatory capture. Utterly disgusting.

Bard isn’t available in the EU or Canada, so there’s one competitor they don’t need to worry about. That doesn’t seem to be a bluff?

Perhaps people will learn to use VPN’s like some US folks did for cryptocurrency exchanges? Or maybe it will be a boost for an open source project that gets a reputation for reliability. (Well, reliable for an AI chatbot, which is not very reliable by most standards.)

For all of Microsoft's flaws, they typically are good at working with regulators and ticking the boxes needed to get into a market like EU. It's unsurprising that Bard isn't there yet, as the whole field has moved at "faster than large corp/government" speeds but I don't imagine MS will stay out of those markets for long.

What exactly does "quit EU" mean. They make an app that connects over the internet. Anyone including businesses, are free to use their money how they see fit by paying for a service that runs in a another country.

All the EU can do here is get rid of the business and infrastructure presence of this company in the EU. Getting rid of jobs and tax revenue. They can also do a China and prosecute their own citizens for trying to access things they want on the internet.

There doesn't need to be Any "AI-related regulation." There's nothing specific or magical or new about "AI" that's not covered by current law. What it does look like to me, is the government couldn't press some authoritarian laws, so they slapped "AI" on it to mislead and misdirect their voters.

Nothing backfired, it wasn't a shot or a bluff. It was a statement that if they pass draconian laws, their citizens will have to buy the product online with their visa card without paying VAT.

Funnily enough, the EU guy who is leading this and doubling down, is Romanian. I've had some friends from that country and been there a few times. It's not a place I would think of when I think honest regulatory body, ethics, or bleeding edge technology. It definitely is a place I think of when I imagine a peacock puffing its feathers, a tiny monkey hitting it's chest, and a drunk idiot with low IQ doubling down till the grave.

> Funnily enough, the EU guy who is leading this and doubling down, is Romanian.

What is the relevance of your personal (and poorly informed) opinions about Romanians? It’s a needlessly low blow and it’s tiring to hear the same myths perpetuated by people who have zero context on Romanian culture and life. If you do not associate Romania with honesty, morality, and innovation, then it’s because you have been misinformed.

> Anyone including businesses, are free to use their money how they see fit by paying for a service that runs in a another country.

I don’t think that has ever been true in any legal jurisdiction. Every country has restrictions on trade and payments that can be made when acquiring services domestically or abroad.

What is the relevance of my personal experience based opinion on the thing I am talking about? That's how opinions work. We have experiences, we get information, we give our opinions based on those.

Now what we could do, instead of giving our own opinions, is repeat statistics that anyone could look up in a minute. Since I am a person, not a database, I gave opinion based on experience.

Here's the statistic though for people with smooth brains. Look for Romania - it's towards the bottom there, near Hungary. You know Hungary, the country with the dictator, who supports that other country with the dictator. https://www.statista.com/statistics/873736/corruption-percep...

>Every country has restrictions on trade and payments

Right. As I literally stated. Every country has the right to prosecute their own citizens in their country. I'm sure that's what the EU voters want - to be prosecuted under the law proposed by this Romanian lawmaker.

There's nothing wrong with every person in Romania. But when a country is known for corruption, perhaps they shouldn't be leading the charge in EU-wide laws.

Let me rephrase that, since you're going to double down and do the "purposefully dense thing." I propose Poland lead EU-wide legislation on Abortion.

You got a problem with that? What, you got something against Poland?

In EU it's not possible to develop a viable competitor due to overregulation. Where's EU's Google? Where's EU's Starlink? Where's EU's Microsoft? Where's EU's Samsung?

Some would view the development of megacorps and monopolies a negative, rather than a positive...

For those, a world without a desktop computer, smartphone, Starlink constellation and internet search is better. The downvoting illustrates that it's a prevailing viewpoint on HN now, indeed.

"What the honorable member is saying is that he would rather that the poor were poorer, provided that the rich were less rich" - Margaret Thatcher

Trillion dollar corporations that pay taxes and provide jobs are negative things?

In many cases, evidently, yes

Google has threatened and left jurisdictions. It's not an easy bluff to call. If the regulation makes it practically impossible to deliver a good product, why wouldn't they leave?

If EU rules are too draconian, neither OpenAI nor their competitors has anything to gain from the EU. The only bluff to call would be if OpenAI were pretending they're too draconian when they're really not. I'll believe that bluff when EU compliant competitors popup who are on par with openAI. Thus far it hasn't happened.

Google Bard doesn't operate in the EU so your theory is unfounded.

Yet. If OpenAI quits the EU, the EU market would be for Google and others to take.

It's not a bluff. Silicon Valley CEO's hate european policies and are willing to remove their stuff because the Euro's homegrown tech startups are atrocious and everyone knows it.