Thread by @itsolelehmann

I'm from Berlin.

Afghanistan gets better tech than Europeans now.

It's not a joke. It's the result of 30 years of suffocating regulation.

And now, the EU's new AI Act is about to make it 10x worse.

Here's the tragic story of how the EU is killing our tech future 🧵:

First, let me be direct. As a European, this pains me to write.

The EU just passed the world's first comprehensive AI regulation with the "EU AI Act."

Massive new oversight office. Fines up to €35M or 7% of global revenue.

So what's banned & heavily restricted? Sadly, a LOT..

• Generative AI without extensive content filtering
• AI-powered hiring without human oversight
• Educational AI without teacher supervision
• Most medical AI applications
• Real-time facial recognition

...among many other features.

But here's the incredible irony:

Europe doesn't have a SINGLE major AI company to regulate.

While the US has:

• OpenAI
• Tesla + xAI
• Anthropic
• Google DeepMind
• Microsoft

Europe has... meetings about regulations.

The numbers are brutal:

EU AI investment: $50B+
US AI investment: $400B+
China AI investment: $120B+

But it gets worse.

For ANY AI system deemed "high-risk" (which they consider most as lol), the EU requires:

• Mandatory human oversight for basic AI tasks
• Training data disclosures
• Multiple certifications & regular audits
• Continuous monitoring & risk assessments

Cost of compliance? Millions.

This kills innovation before it starts.

Just imagine being a European AI startup:

Option A: Spend 2 years navigating EU bureaucracy
Option B: Move to the US and start building tomorrow

The choice is obvious. That's why European founders are fleeing.

But here's what's really tragic:

This will create a two-tier AI world:

• Rest of world: Access to cutting-edge AI
• Europe: Restricted, watered-down versions

We've seen this before with Apple's latest iPhone, as well as OpenAI's Sora video model.

Even Afghanistan gets better tech than Europeans now lol.

This cycle will only continue, and its painfully predictable:

1. EU over-regulates
2. Talent leaves
3. Innovation dies
4. Economy stagnates
5. More regulation follows

One of my Euro founder friends recently told me:

"The EU is great at regulating industries it doesn't have."

Meanwhile, the US and China race ahead.

This isn't just about AI.

It's about Europe's deepening innovation crisis...

A continent that once led the scientific revolution now leads in paperwork.

While bureaucrats in Brussels write regulations, the rest of the world is writing the future.

And we're not even in the room.

Sad!

But I must say, I still love living in Europe...

Our quality of life, culture, and values are worth fighting for.

I dream of a Europe where entrepreneurs feel valued again.

Where regulations enable innovation instead of killing it.

Where the next OpenAI or DeepMind is born in Berlin, Paris, or Amsterdam.

It's possible. But first, we need to wake up.

@elonmusk wen DOGE EU?
@euaccofficial

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