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Unpacking AI sovereignty
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STG_PB_2025_18.pdf (441.1 KB)
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2600-271X
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EUI; STG; Policy Brief; 2025/18
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BOSOER, Lucía, INNERARITY, Daniel, Unpacking AI sovereignty, EUI, STG, Policy Brief, 2025/18 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/94063
Abstract
This policy brief examines the emerging notion of AI sovereignty. In response to the ubiquity of AI systems and their increasing control by a few large tech companies, governments worldwide are asserting their sovereignty over AI. Yet, both sovereignty and AI are broad, contested concepts. Their intersection generates multiple interpretations and policy responses, often reflecting divergent national interests and capacities. The brief unpacks these concepts, identifies three main areas of concern — the limits of state control, the risk of authoritarian misuse, and the strategic deployment of sovereign AI narratives by corporate players — and calls for a more informed and democratic debate on what forms of control are possible in an interconnected world. It recommends that policymakers clarify the scope and goals of AI sovereignty claims, adopt a comprehensive socio-technical view of AI, focus on areas of comparative advantage, strengthen representation of the Global South in governance, and guard against ‘sovereignty washing.’