08-25-2026IMPACT COUNCIL

The U.S. and the EU regulate AI differently

The comparison explains why the EU may reconsider its AI-related regulation.

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Spanning 113 articles and roughly 50,000 words, the EU AI Act is the first of its kind globally to provide comprehensive legislation on AI. Meanwhile, the U.S. has not yet passed any federal laws on the matter, relying instead on executive orders, guidance from agencies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Federal Trade Commission, and a growing collection of state-level bills. In fact, in 2024, U.S. states passed 131 AI-related laws, more than double the 49 that were enacted in 2023.

At first glance, the U.S. appears more active, but when you measure the weight of its AI laws, the picture reverses. For instance, a California deepfake bill and an EU article on high-risk AI systems are not equivalent instruments. A single EU article can carry more legal force than a dozen state statutes combined, because U.S. state laws might be narrowly focused, and later repealed by a federal law. EU law, on the other hand, has supremacy over national laws of the member states. A single article might have consequences for entire industries.

BANNING CATEGORIES VERSUS PROHIBITING USE CASES

Comparing what each system prohibits outright is also........

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