AI at the heart of sovereignty issues

Artificial intelligence is no longer an emerging technology: it is omnipresent in many sectors such as research, search engines, finance, health, defense, industry, and public services. It is transforming economic models, redefining geopolitical power dynamics, and profoundly changing contemporary societies. At the same time, the concentration of technological capabilities is unprecedented: only a few major powers and companies control the critical infrastructure, massive data, and key technologies that underpin AI — which poses a major strategic challenge for actors who do not master these fundamental elements. In this context, associating the notions of artificial intelligence and sovereignty becomes a strategic, economic, and democratic necessity rather than a simple slogan or communication concept.

A weakened sovereignty is expressed through lasting strategic dependence, particularly in the digital realm, where traditional physical borders no longer offer sufficient protection against data flows and technologies distributed throughout the world.

The technical foundations of AI sovereignty

The three fundamental pillars that intrinsically link AI to sovereignty:

Data: high-performing AI depends on vast volumes of often sensitive data — personal, medical, industrial, or financial. Without control over this data, no lasting autonomy is possible.
Infrastructure: data centers, computing capabilities (such as GPUs or TPUs), networks, and clouds are expensive, energy-intensive, and largely dominated by a few global players.
Models and algorithms: large AI models, whether for language or vision, are increasingly complex, often proprietary and closed, which limits the freedom of states or organizations that do not master them.

Whoever controls these three elements holds a large part of the decision-making, economic, and informational power. This makes AI a central field of competition: mastering the value chain of data, infrastructure, and models becomes essential to maintain or build strategic autonomy. In other words, sovereignty is no longer limited to strictly political or economic questions; it encompasses deep technological realities that define the ability of an actor (state, region, or company) to decide independently of external constraints.

3. Global competition and Europe’s place

To appreciate the current issues, the article analyzes the forces at play on the global AI scene:

The United States largely dominates thanks to its tech giants (e.g., major cloud platforms, the most widely used AI models, and widely adopted technological standards). They have a robust ecosystem that combines private innovation, economic power, and political influence. Their lead is based on the integration of technologies, massive funding, and legal frameworks that sometimes extend beyond their borders (such as the Cloud Act, which can provide access to data, even when stored abroad).
China has made AI a strategic national objective with massive public investment, state control of data and infrastructure, and very high scientific and patent production. This approach, sometimes at the expense of certain individual freedoms, aims for total technological autonomy.
Europe finds itself in a delicate situation: although it has remarkable talent and regulation (such as the GDPR or the AI Act) that protects certain values, it remains dependent on American and Chinese technologies and infrastructure. This dependence limits its technological sovereignty and exposes European actors to real risks, including a loss of control over sensitive data and a forced alignment with foreign technological choices.

Sovereignty is not decreed: it is built. For Europeans, this means investing in mastering the technical elements of AI, encouraging the emergence of local solutions, and developing an autonomy that goes beyond simple regulatory frameworks.

At Verbatim AI, we are convinced that technological sovereignty is essential to ensure data protection and infrastructure security. We are actively working to develop independent and autonomous AI solutions, relying on open-source technologies and close partnerships with European actors. Our commitment is to contribute to building a sustainable and responsible digital economy where sovereignty is at the heart of every technological decision.