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What is sovereign AI?

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Overview

As AI grows in popularity, organizations are looking to place guardrails around their implementations to avoid adverse outcomes. Sovereign AI is emerging as a solution to maintain control over AI systems while ensuring compliance with local laws and regulations. It offers regulatory compliance, mitigates risks, maintains strategic control, and aligns with cultural values, making it a critical component of modern AI strategies.

Sovereign AI

What is sovereign AI?

Sovereign AI is the ability to develop, deploy, and govern AI systems using infrastructure, data, and models that are fully controlled and compliant within the enterprise’s legal and strategic boundaries. This concept is crucial for organizations aiming to maintain control over their AI systems while ensuring compliance with local laws and regulations. Sovereign AI encompasses several key elements, including infrastructure sovereignty, data sovereignty, model sovereignty, governance sovereignty, and operational autonomy.

Infrastructure sovereignty means AI systems run on private cloud, sovereign cloud, or on-premises systems, avoiding reliance on hyperscalers or foreign-hosted platforms. This ensures the infrastructure is fully controlled by the organization, reducing the risk of external influence.

Data sovereignty involves using data that resides in, processed in, and stored in compliance with local laws, such as GDPR or HIPAA. This delivers IP protection and data privacy, which are critical for maintaining trust and compliance.

Model sovereignty refers to custom-built or fine-tuned models using enterprise-specific data. Organizations retain full control over model weights, architecture, and updates to be sure the AI systems are tailored to their specific needs and requirements.

Governance sovereignty means governing AI systems through internal policies for fairness, transparency, and accountability. This allows for auditability and risk management across jurisdictions, ensuring that AI systems operate within organizations’ ethical and compliance standards.

Operational autonomy means AI systems can operate independently of external APIs or services, supporting business continuity even in cases of geopolitical or vendor disruption. This is crucial for maintaining control over AI systems and ensuring that they can continue to operate effectively, regardless of external factors.

What are the key elements of sovereign AI?

Sovereign AI systems are:

  • Hosted on infrastructure the company owns or fully controls, be it private cloud, sovereign cloud, or on-premise systems.
  • Trained on data that resides in, processed in, and stored in compliance with local laws (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).
  • Equipped with models that are custom-built or fine-tuned using enterprise-specific data. Organizations retain full control over model weights, architecture, and updates.
  • Designed to operate independently of external APIs or services.
  • Aligned with internal governance, compliance, and ethical standards.
  • Protected from external influence, surveillance, and geopolitical or vendor disruption.

What are the benefits of sovereign AI?

Sovereign AI delivers strategic control so organizations can differentiate their AI capabilities and tailor them to business needs to gain a competitive advantage. Cultural alignment embeds enterprise values and domain-specific language into AI behavior, ensuring that the AI systems reflect the company's culture and values.

Sovereign AI ensures:

  • IP protection during model training.
  • Isolation from shared infrastructure to avoid leakage risks.
  • Customizable AI that reflects enterprise context and values.
  • Cross-functional collaboration.
  • Real-time analytics.

Why the emphasis on sovereign AI today?

Geopolitical competition is prompting nations to seek technological autonomy so they can avoid dependence on foreign systems. AI is seen as a strategic asset, similar to energy or defense infrastructure, and countries are racing to secure control over data centers, chips, and cloud services. National security and data sovereignty concerns have led governments and enterprises to fear that foreign AI systems could introduce backdoors, enable surveillance, or manipulate public discourse. Sovereign AI ensures local control over sensitive data, addressing these concerns.

Cultural and linguistic representation is another important factor, as global AI models often reflect western biases and are trained with primarily English data. Countries like Singapore, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia are building models that reflect local languages and cultural values, ensuring their AI systems are representative of and relevant to their populations.

Economic competition drives the need for sovereign AI as it stimulates domestic innovation, creates high-value jobs, and builds a resilient tech ecosystem. Governments are investing heavily in sovereign infrastructure to support these goals.

How can OpenText help with sovereign AI?

OpenText™ Private Cloud offerings help organizations operate globally while maintaining strict control over data and meeting regional data sovereignty demands. With data centers strategically placed across key regions—including Canada, the UK, Germany, France, and Australia—OpenText provides organizations the flexibility to choose where their data resides. As data sovereignty and AI become boardroom priorities, OpenText is making it easier for businesses to comply with data-protection regulations to leverage AI with confidence that the data it uses is secure and compliant. 

OpenText Private Cloud solutions provide tailored environments that ensure compliance while offering the highest levels of security. Key benefits include:

  • Dedicated, single-tenant environments offering maximum isolation and enhanced security for sensitive data.
  • Customizable deployment options to meet specific regulatory and operational requirements.
  • End-to-end encryption, including customer-controlled key management to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of data.
  • Comprehensive compliance support for global standards, such as ISO 27001, HIPAA, and IRAP.

OpenText also offers a comprehensive suite of AI-powered solutions designed to address a wide range of organizational needs:

How can we help?