on an ActiveModel Object, how do I check uniqueness?

Creating a custom validator may be overkill if this just happens to be a one-off requirement.

A simplified approach...

class Signup

  (...)

  validates :email, presence: true
  validates :account_name, length: {within: 3..40}, format: { with: /^([a-z0-9\-]+)$/i }

  # Call a private method to verify uniqueness

  validate :account_name_is_unique


  def persisted?
    false
  end

  def save
    if valid?
      persist!
      true
    else
      false
    end
  end

  private

  # Refactor as needed

  def account_name_is_unique
    if Account.where(name: account_name).exists?
      errors.add(:account_name, 'Account name is taken')
    end
  end

  def persist!
    @account = Account.create!(name: account_name)
    @user = @account.users.create!(name: name, email: email)
  end
end

Bryan was kind enough to comment on my question to his blog post. With his help, I've come up with the following custom validator:

class UniquenessValidator < ActiveRecord::Validations::UniquenessValidator
  def setup(klass)
    super
    @klass = options[:model] if options[:model]
  end

  def validate_each(record, attribute, value)
    # UniquenessValidator can't be used outside of ActiveRecord instances, here
    # we return the exact same error, unless the 'model' option is given.
    #
    if ! options[:model] && ! record.class.ancestors.include?(ActiveRecord::Base)
      raise ArgumentError, "Unknown validator: 'UniquenessValidator'"

    # If we're inside an ActiveRecord class, and `model` isn't set, use the
    # default behaviour of the validator.
    #
    elsif ! options[:model]
      super

    # Custom validator options. The validator can be called in any class, as
    # long as it includes `ActiveModel::Validations`. You can tell the validator
    # which ActiveRecord based class to check against, using the `model`
    # option. Also, if you are using a different attribute name, you can set the
    # correct one for the ActiveRecord class using the `attribute` option.
    #
    else
      record_org, attribute_org = record, attribute

      attribute = options[:attribute].to_sym if options[:attribute]
      record = options[:model].new(attribute => value)

      super

      if record.errors.any?
        record_org.errors.add(attribute_org, :taken,
          options.except(:case_sensitive, :scope).merge(value: value))
      end
    end
  end
end

You can use it in your ActiveModel classes like so:

  validates :account_name,
    uniqueness: { case_sensitive: false, model: Account, attribute: 'name' }

The only problem you'll have with this, is if your custom model class has validations as well. Those validations aren't run when you call Signup.new.save, so you will have to check those some other way. You can always use save(validate: false) inside the above persist! method, but then you have to make sure all validations are in the Signup class, and keep that class up to date, when you change any validations in Account or User.