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We have seen this playbook twice. Smartphones and social media made themselves indispensable, then sold our #dependence back to us. #AI is running the same script, faster and more personal. I wrote about how, and why #Europe may be the only one able to stop it. 1/6

Dániel Fehér

@feher.de

10 June

The money tells the story. Hundreds of billions burned on AI infrastructure with no clear path to profit. Nvidia "invests" 100bn in OpenAI, which spends it back on Nvidia chips. The same capital, counted twice, makes demand look real. 2/6

Dániel Fehér

@feher.de

10 June

The goal was never just to beat rivals. It is lock-in: get people dependent, then collect. We know this because someone wrote it down. A leaked Microsoft strategy named the first stage a "dependence phase." The CEO's denial confirmed it was already working. 3/6

Dániel Fehér

@feher.de

10 June

Then they monetise. A Princeton study found a chatbot pushing sponsored products got users to pick them 61% of the time, against 22% for normal search. Most never noticed. When the model hid its intent, detection fell below 10%. 4/6

Dániel Fehér

@feher.de

The people least able to resist are the ones whose brains are still forming. We opened the door to social media and only thought about protecting kids fifteen years too late, when the platforms were already too big to regulate. The same door is open now. 5/6

10/6/26, 6:45 am0 reposts0 likes

Dániel Fehér

@feher.de

10 June

Europe already has the instrument: the AI Act bans vulnerability-exploiting systems. The burden of proof is high, which is exactly why the work has to start now. Do we close this gate before the harm is done, or long after? Read the full piece: open.substack.com/pub/dfeher/p... #AI #TechPolicy 6/6

open.substack.comThe Dependency Business, Now on SteroidsHow the AI industry is repeating the smartphone-and-social-media script and why Europe should not wait twenty years to notice