Europe’s AI Gap With The U.S. Is Worse Than We Thought | VisualEconomik EN | Video
A few days ago, Stripe published a chart that went viral: the volume of payments it processes for AI companies in the United States is about 30 times that of Europe. Twenty years after Quaero, the failed "European Google", the tech gap between the two sides of the Atlantic keeps widening, and AI seems to be making it worse.
Some economists, including Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, aren't so pessimistic. Their argument is that Europe can simply "let them invent it", as Unamuno put it: American technology gets cheaper every year and Europeans enjoy it just as much as Americans. But the data tells a different story. Tech giants keep margins of 30 to 40 percent, technology replaces other goods, and the companies that gain the most are the ones surrounded by a strong tech sector.
That's why the AI race that really matters isn't about building the best model, but about using it. Around 40% of American workers already use generative AI, compared to 30% or less in Germany, France or Italy. In this video we explain why Europe is falling behind again and what it would need to catch up.
22 replies
"Europe's effort in insulating itself from the next economic bubble increasingly succesful, despite best attempts at bribery from bubble inflaters"
So, Europeans are not buying enough tokens? And spending is a race?
I think the point was that AI is a tool and although we're not the expert toolmakers we could be the expert craftsmen.
A craftsman will use the right tool for the job. When they're offered a spork they'll probably ignore it.
A spork that costs 7 million euros, but I'll sell it to you for just 500k
I have a spork and I love it. It's absolutely the right tool at times.
No, the point is that the tool has no use case massive enough to ever justify the insane amount of investments.
So they now need to convince the whole world that everything in existence is a nail for their shiny new hammer or that this magical hammer will get the ability to transform into every actually useful tool soon™ and you will totally be left behind when that singularity event happens and you are not already on board.
Cool, where can I find those tech giants making any money?
https://isaiprofitable.com/
scam detector gives it 15.7 out of a 100. Only ~5 months old (registered May 19, 2026) and having no established reputation — not because of confirmed malware or phishing.
https://www.scam-detector.com/validator/isaiprofitable-com-review/
Or you could have just scrolled down about half a page and taken a look at the explanation and sources...
Especially as "scam detector" serve an entirely different purpose. Yes, a single page created by single person to post some information as a hobby and without making any money is not rating high in terms of "does this page seem to be from a legitimate business" because it really isn't.
But somehow I am not surprised that the same kind of person subscribing to the fairy tale of the whole world being a nail for that shiny hammer that is AI would use an automated checkup entirely unsuited for the actual taks, too...
Here, here, and here.
Excuse me, but gross profit isn't the money the company earns; rather, it's the money the company collects (for services, products, or other items) before deducting all expenses (salaries, research and development, operating costs, and so on).
A company can have 1 trillion $ of gross profit but if they spend 1.1 Trillion $ I would not say they are making money, strictly speaking.
You are absolutely 100% correct and I should have linked to net income instead.
Thanks for pointing it out.
The original point still stands though, these are very profitable companies.
Yeah, all those purely AI companies make money with AI. Oh, wait. They don't. At best the amounts invested into AI hasn't squashed the profits from their actually profitable business (yet) because the constant circular investments hide the losses until the insane bubble bursts.
They are tech giants making money, no? American tech giants, which was one of the points in the video.
Did you really not get (given the topic was margins and AI) that "tech giants making money" obviously meant "with AI"?
Not while also spending money on AI. Not despite using AI. Not while hoping AI will be their next big thing. But making money with AI. As in: income from AI making up for the costs, e.g. actual AI profits.
The only ones making actual money are the chip producers (and a lot of it is caused by the scarcity thus price hike caused by the hype).
That wasn't the topic in the video posted, but I did get that this is what you meant. It's also not uncommon for businesses to use profits from on part of the company to prop up another, not yet profitable part. Will AI ever be profitable? No idea, but it does have its uses. Not that this will ever be acknowledged here.
Which uses? 🙈
Translations? Summarizing text? This? Does the spending justify the results? Not really. But then again, did the spending on ARPAnet justify the result of being able to send half a message to another uni? I'm not saying that AI will be the next internet, but it might, and right now everyone is suffering from FOMO, hence spending like there's no tomorrow.
So the person who made this has never used ai?
Because it’s a giant pile of stinking excrement that lies, censors, gaslight and induces psychosis in it’s users.
I think it's the reverse. They've used lots of AI and are currently suffering all of that.
It can only be seen as a „gap“ if you believe that the omnipresent enshitification is something worth aspiring.