EU Bans Real-Time Biometric Surveillance; U.S. Has No Federal Equivalent

The EU's AI Act classifies real-time remote biometric identification in public spaces as high-risk and bans most applications. The U.S. lacks comparable federal regulation. This regulatory gap determines where AI surveillance infrastructure deploys at scale: jurisdictions with stricter rules will resist systems that other regions embrace. The outcome depends less on technical feasibility—which exists—than on whose legal framework governs first.