AI Act, Rebellious Canada and Samsung: The World Reorganises Around Artificial Intelligence
August 2025 is no ordinary month. It is the moment when the rhetoric around AI stops being conference-room chatter and becomes bureaucracy, geopolitics and criminal law. Europe is tightening the screws, Canada is building a wall against the American duopoly, Samsung is restructuring an empire worth 200 billion dollars. The picture is clear: those who fail to adapt will pay the price.
Key Takeaways
- From 2 August 2025, Italian businesses are required to declare their use of AI systems under the AI Act (European Regulation No. 2024/1689), with fines of up to 3% of annual global turnover.
- Canada has launched a federal programme to develop a sovereign national AI, reducing dependence on OpenAI and Google — giants that control over 70% of the global market for foundation models.
- Samsung Electronics, with 2024 revenues exceeding 200 billion dollars, has launched a plan to integrate AI across all its divisions, from semiconductors (chips for data processing) to home appliances.
Italy Under Regulatory Pressure
The Italian government has passed two implementing decrees on AI that introduce a new criminal offence for those who fail to implement security measures in high-risk systems. This is no longer a matter of voluntary compliance (adherence to regulatory requirements): it is criminal law. Italian SMEs, often ill-prepared on the AI governance (management and oversight of AI systems) front, risk finding themselves exposed without even realising it.
Ottawa's Geopolitical Move
Canada has no intention of remaining hostage to American Big Tech (large US technology corporations). A national AI means control over data, language and culture. It follows the same logic that drove Europe to build the GDPR (European regulation on personal data privacy). Digital sovereignty is no longer an abstract concept: it is a budget line.
Samsung completes the picture: when the world's largest manufacturer of chips and smartphones decides to restructure itself around AI, it means the transition is already over. We are now in the consolidation phase. Either you are in, or you are irrelevant.