As Google aggressively deploys its advanced Gemini artificial intelligence worldwide, a formidable regulatory barrier in the European Union is blocking key features. The result is an emerging “AI lag,” creating a divided technological landscape with significant consequences for the continent’s future.
This is Modra—a quiet town in the wine country of western Slovakia. But the future being written here, and across Europe, feels anything but quiet. It is a future of digital borders, of technologies available to some but not all. A developer in California can ask her phone to turn a family photo into a short video with music. An entrepreneur in Bratislava cannot.
A Global Offensive
Over the summer of 2025, Google pushed forward with a global technology offensive. It began weaving its artificial intelligence, Gemini, into the fabric of daily life. The old Google Assistant is being replaced by “Gemini for Home,” a system designed not just to follow commands but to manage a household. In 180 countries, Google Search began changing from a list of links into a conversation, an “AI Mode” that could plan a trip or book a table at a restaurant. The company’s new Pixel 10 phone was built to “ask more from your phone,” with an AI that could anticipate your needs, pulling up flight information the moment you dial an airline.
The strategy is clear. Google is building an AI that is proactive, not just reactive. It is an agent, not just an assistant. This intelligence layer is being threaded through smart homes, search engines, and enterprise cloud platforms alike.
The European Gauntlet
Juxtaposed against this global offensive is a deliberate slowdown in the European Union.
Key flagship experiences are absent from the EU market. The full, powerful version of AI Mode in Search is not available here. Tools that generate video from an image are blocked. Conversational photo editing, a signature feature of the new Pixel phone, launched as a U.S. exclusive.
This is not a technical problem. It is a regulatory one. Two pieces of European legislation stand in the way: the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the new EU AI Act.
The DMA prohibits large tech “gatekeepers” from unfairly favoring their own services. Regulators worry that AI Mode in Search, which pulls answers from Google Maps and Google Shopping, does exactly that. The AI Act creates a complex new rulebook for artificial intelligence, raising legal questions about the data used to train the models and the copyrights involved.
Faced with legal uncertainty and the risk of massive fines, Google has adopted a cautious approach. It is a pattern echoed by other American tech giants, who have also delayed their premier AI features in Europe, citing the same regulations.
The result is a bifurcated market. A technology gap is emerging, where European consumers and businesses do not have the same tools as their counterparts in America and other parts of the world.
Google has pledged to work with regulators, signing a voluntary AI code of practice. But it also warns that the current rules could stifle innovation on the continent. A resolution is not expected soon. A full launch of these advanced features in the EU before 2026 seems improbable.
The world is not flat. It is being remade by code and by law. As one of the world’s most powerful companies executes an ambitious vision for an AI-powered future, one of its most important markets is building a regulatory fortress. The creation of this AI lag poses a long-term risk for Europe’s ambition to lead in the digital age.