Countries are creating “sovereign AI” to become independent from the US and China

More and more countries fear that excessive dependence on the US and China in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) will negatively impact their economic competitiveness and national security, therefore they are trying to build their own capabilities, writes the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The example of implementing the concept of “sovereign artificial intelligence” described by this newspaper is South Korea, which, thanks to its rich and advanced technological sector, is deeply convinced that smaller countries can succeed in developing broad autonomy in the field of artificial intelligence.

– In the era of artificial intelligence, a delay of one day can mean a delay of an entire generation. We are currently facing an urgent crisis that may decide our fate, South Korean President Li Jae Mjung said in a speech to parliamentarians in early November.

As the WSJ explains, the goal of sovereign AI is to build a localized computing infrastructure and potentially have national capabilities in everything from developing large language models and chip manufacturing to cloud storage and educating its own IT talent. It would also provide the opportunity to regulate and manage the data used and generated by AI on its own terms.

The journal writes that South Koreabeing one of the few countries outside the United States and China able to attempt to achieve a broad range of AI autonomy, has become a testing ground for sovereign AI. It has significant financial resources, semiconductor know-how from domestic companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and software experience. Lee, who took office in June, has shown political will by pushing to triple the government's AI development budget next year to the equivalent of about $6.8 billion.

Virpratap Vikram Singh, a cyber and conflict specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told WSJ that There is a “growing reluctance” in various regions to become too dependent on US tech giantswhich state authorities are having more and more difficulty regulating.

“WSJ” notes that a number of other countries are also taking similar actions to South Korea. French Mistral AI i company German SAP has joined forces to launch a sovereign AI platform to protect European data in the public sector and regulated industries. Great Britain established a sovereign artificial intelligence unit to facilitate investment in local start-ups and become a more attractive place for AI companies. India is developing its own basic AI model and expanding domestic computing capacity.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirateswhich are among the most active and richest players in the Middle East in the field of artificial intelligence, recently obtained approval from the United States Department (Ministry of Commerce) for the purchase by two local companies of up to 70,000. advanced artificial intelligence chips. The UAE Economy Minister compared spending on sovereign AI to spending on areas such as defense and cybersecurity. (PAP)

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