Sovereign AI: Rethinking Autonomy in the Age of Global Interdependence

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Autori principali: Singh, Shalabh Kumar, Sengupta, Shubhashis
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Singh, Shalabh Kumar
Sengupta, Shubhashis
author_facet Singh, Shalabh Kumar
Sengupta, Shubhashis
contents Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a foundational general-purpose technology, raising new dilemmas of sovereignty in an interconnected world. While governments seek greater control over it, the very foundations of AI--global data pipelines, semiconductor supply chains, open-source ecosystems, and international standards--resist enclosure. This paper develops a conceptual and formal framework for understanding sovereign AI as a continuum rather than a binary condition, balancing autonomy with interdependence. Drawing on classical theories, historical analogies, and contemporary debates on networked autonomy, we present a planner's model that identifies two policy heuristics: equalizing marginal returns across the four sovereignty pillars and setting openness where global benefits equal exposure risks. We apply the model to India, highlighting sovereign footholds in data, compute, and norms but weaker model autonomy. The near-term challenge is integration via coupled Data x Compute investment, lifecycle governance (ModelOps), and safeguarded procurement. We then apply the model to the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the UAE), where large public investment in Arabic-first models and sovereign cloud implies high sovereignty weights, lower effective fiscal constraints, and strong Data x Compute complementarities. An interior openness setting with guardrails emerges as optimal. Across contexts, the lesson is that sovereignty in AI needs managed interdependence, not isolation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_15734
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sovereign AI: Rethinking Autonomy in the Age of Global Interdependence
Singh, Shalabh Kumar
Sengupta, Shubhashis
Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
General Economics
Economics
Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a foundational general-purpose technology, raising new dilemmas of sovereignty in an interconnected world. While governments seek greater control over it, the very foundations of AI--global data pipelines, semiconductor supply chains, open-source ecosystems, and international standards--resist enclosure. This paper develops a conceptual and formal framework for understanding sovereign AI as a continuum rather than a binary condition, balancing autonomy with interdependence. Drawing on classical theories, historical analogies, and contemporary debates on networked autonomy, we present a planner's model that identifies two policy heuristics: equalizing marginal returns across the four sovereignty pillars and setting openness where global benefits equal exposure risks. We apply the model to India, highlighting sovereign footholds in data, compute, and norms but weaker model autonomy. The near-term challenge is integration via coupled Data x Compute investment, lifecycle governance (ModelOps), and safeguarded procurement. We then apply the model to the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the UAE), where large public investment in Arabic-first models and sovereign cloud implies high sovereignty weights, lower effective fiscal constraints, and strong Data x Compute complementarities. An interior openness setting with guardrails emerges as optimal. Across contexts, the lesson is that sovereignty in AI needs managed interdependence, not isolation.
title Sovereign AI: Rethinking Autonomy in the Age of Global Interdependence
topic Computers and Society
Artificial Intelligence
General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15734