The AI Act applies to you if:

- You provide AI systems used in the EU (regardless of where you’re based)

- You import or distribute AI systems in the EU

- You use AI systems in your business operations in the EU

In other words: if your AI touches the EU market in any way, you’re covered. Anytime an EU user consumes your product, you’re accountable.

> The AI Act applies to you [...] regardless of where you’re based

By what mechanism? Extradition?

Not once the GRANITE Act arrives.

As far as I'm aware that's currently just a blog post from the Kiwi Farms lawyer, not a bill.

The New Hampshire proposed state law?

Sounds like an EU problem to me.

>regardless of where you’re based

This isn't true.

Same with Thailand's lese majeste laws. Better hope nobody on your site writes "Vajiralongkorn the King of Thailand is an impotent jerkface."

If the EU tried to innovate as hard on technology as they did regulations, imagine how far they’d be…

Along the same lines, if the US tried to innovate as hard on regulations as they do on technology maybe we wouldn't be destroying the world.

Citation needed. I just checked and the world is still intact.

You have to leave your room first.

This trope is tiring.

* We're leading the world in fusion research. https://www.pppl.gov/news/2025/wendelstein-7-x-sets-new-perf...

* Our satellites are giving us by far the best understanding of our universe, capturing one third of the visible sky in incredible detail - just check out this mission update video if you want your mind blown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXCBFlIpvfQ

* Not only that, the Copernicus mission is the world's leading source for open data geoobservation: https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/

* We've given the world mRNA vaccines to solve the Covid crisis and GLP-1 antagonists to solve the obesity crisis.

* CERN and is figuring out questions about the fundamental nature of the universe, with the LHC being by far the largest particle accelerator in the world, an engineering precision feat that couldn't have been accomplished anywhere else.

Innovation isn't just about the latest tech fad. It's about fundamental research on how our universe works. Everyone else is downstream of us.

You wouldn't have this freedom to pursue the nice things without the military support of the United States. Don't forget that, nor try to explain it away in your cognitive machinations. Whatever social niceties you have are thanks to somebody else protecting you and subsidizing your protection.

Without the United States starting wars all over the world, the military support of the United States would not be needed.

Who was it that invaded Ukraine? Who provided the bulk of protection to Europe during the Cold War? Hmmm...

A comment that's vague, inflammatory, confrontational, and not at all related to the parent comment.

He's not wrong though. A Europe that has to be responsible for its own defense either has to substantially reform its economy and society, or rely on France with its ASMPA doing the geopolitical equivalent of a drunk guy waving a knife around saying "stay away!".

He's not right either because he makes large vague claims. If we want to discuss it on clear subjects.

The "free" Europe has, and always will, thank the US for their help during WW2.

The US didn't protect us until now, because there was nothing they had to protect us from. US pulled it's allied NATO members into war in Iraq, if we're tallying things up.

With the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, both the EU and the US came to aid because a sovereign, close to EU, nation is invaded. No one was forced to do so. It's a matter of adhering to principles, that in theory are, shared by the "western" countries.

Realistically the US would have to jump to our aid if Russia's attempts outreach their Ukraine war. But that is because that's part of the deal we all made when becoming members of NATO.

And in terms of "subsidizing". That's the most outlandish claim, the US military industrial complex is so large for a reason. It's due to benefitting directly from the international government contracts, the technology it's building and selling (let's leave aside the shady and corrupt aspects of it for this topic)

The small amount of investment spent on military by European NATO members is a fair claim, but let's not kid ourselves, the grander scope of such spending will, and is going, towards US military tech. In a sense having higher spending is all about pushing more money to the US.

And if the US doesn't jump to your aid? If in 2028 Trump goes "you guys had six years to prepare and pissed it away, why should we bail you out?" what can Europe do? They could certainly try putting together a multinational European army and taking it into combat but I doubt there is much political will for that in France or Britain, who crucially possess a lot of the air and seapower.

> And if the US doesn't jump to your aid?

Pretty banal answer, countries will "just" fight.

Even without NATO, the EU countries already have a defensive pact.

Which as a sidenote is why the dismantlement of EU looks like appealing proposition to both Russia, and the US (for different reasons).

The US would make such a war easier, and fewer lives would be lost, given it's tech, and intelligence network. With or without the US, Russia would lose such a war.

Only way nukes play into it is if a shithead like Putin says "fuck it", seals himself in the bunker and hits the nukes. But then we are all cooked, whichever country does that, since mutual assured destruction comes into play.

In terms of political and societal effects, really interesting question worth pondering about. How would the other NATO member countries retaliate if the US wouldn't join in defense. That would be a big betrayal, so I hope that at the very least all US assets are seized, and US companies nationalized across the EU.

I feel like the madman with nukes approach would probably be enough - just ask North Korea if they've been invaded lately ;-)

Europe as a theme park/museum with nukes actually is kinda funny to me as an American.

It wasn't the nukes that kept them safe. It was artillery. But the principle of mutually assured destruction is the same.

That is X propaganda. The U.S. actively prohibits additional EU states getting nuclear weapons and does not really want a super strong EU. The U.S. profits from the military strength and "protection" with an overvalued dollar and people irrationally buying U.S. bonds.

The EU spends at least three times as much on defense as Russia. But hey, perhaps it should spend EUR 1 trillion and get active in the Middle East again, after the U.S. has kicked it out in the Suez crisis.

  > Whatever social niceties you have are thanks to somebody else protecting you and subsidizing your protection.

Now more than ever, seems like it was just smoke and mirrors all along.

Comparing the two, Europe is in a pretty good place right now thanks to its regulations. I'm glad it isn't as "far" and there are still some vestiges of treating people as humans.

Meanwhile thousands of Americans don't have access to lead free running water, your public transportation system is about as good as ours from 150 years ago, parents have to be back in the office instantly after having a baby, if you don't have insurance a cancer will bankrupt you, your average lifespan is going down, &c.

Keep your llms and iphones, we're more than fine on our side lmao

This is not sound legal advice. Even Elon learned a lesson about that recently.

Unless you want to be able to sell to a market twice as big as the US, of course.

This is innumerate bordering on the delusional.

The EU consists of roughly 500M well-off consumers, the US of roughly 300M.

Maybe not quite double, but almost.

And a GDP 2/3 the size. And way less than that by disposable income.

Even users from "rich" EU countries are worth ~30% of a US user to most companies.

Doesn't matter. Rich enough to afford most products, as pretty much the only market other than the US. And more people. Biggest addressable market for most things.

So what? Even people living in poor EU countries buy iphones, use windows, watch Netflix

If the market was at best 1/3rd of the US no one would bother implementing all these regulations

And yet Apple, Microsoft and Netflix make significantly more revenue from the US than the EU. It's almost as if the EU is not actually a bigger market.

Or maybe their products just aren't that compelling ;-)

Yeah, it's definitely not the low purchasing power.

Like I said, delusional.

Virtually everyone complies with GDPR.