🔗 Share this article

Around the globe, states are channeling massive amounts into what is known as “sovereign AI” – creating their own artificial intelligence models. Starting with the city-state of Singapore to the nation of Malaysia and Switzerland, countries are competing to develop AI that grasps regional dialects and cultural specifics.

The International AI Arms Race

This trend is part of a wider worldwide race dominated by major corporations from the US and China. While organizations like OpenAI and Meta pour enormous funds, developing countries are also placing independent investments in the artificial intelligence domain.

However amid such vast amounts at stake, is it possible for less wealthy states secure notable gains? According to a analyst from a well-known thinktank, Except if you’re a wealthy state or a big company, it’s a significant burden to develop an LLM from scratch.”

National Security Concerns

Numerous countries are unwilling to depend on overseas AI models. In India, for example, American-made AI systems have at times fallen short. One case featured an AI agent used to teach pupils in a distant area – it interacted in English with a strong American accent that was hard to understand for native listeners.

Additionally there’s the state security factor. In India’s military authorities, using specific international AI tools is seen as unacceptable. As one entrepreneur noted, It's possible it contains some unvetted training dataset that could claim that, such as, a certain region is outside of India … Employing that particular model in a defence setup is a major risk.”

He further stated, “I have spoken to experts who are in security. They wish to use AI, but, disregarding certain models, they don’t even want to rely on Western technologies because information may be transferred overseas, and that is completely unacceptable with them.”

National Efforts

Consequently, several nations are funding local initiatives. An example such effort is being developed in India, wherein a company is attempting to develop a national LLM with public funding. This effort has committed about a substantial sum to AI development.

The developer imagines a system that is more compact than top-tier systems from US and Chinese tech companies. He explains that India will have to compensate for the resource shortfall with talent. Located in India, we don’t have the luxury of allocating massive funds into it,” he says. “How do we vie with for example the $100 or $300 or $500bn that the America is devoting? I think that is where the key skills and the strategic thinking plays a role.”

Regional Focus

Throughout the city-state, a state-backed program is backing AI systems trained in local native tongues. Such tongues – such as the Malay language, the Thai language, Lao, Indonesian, Khmer and additional ones – are commonly poorly represented in American and Asian LLMs.

It is my desire that the experts who are creating these sovereign AI systems were informed of how rapidly and how quickly the frontier is advancing.

A senior director participating in the initiative says that these tools are designed to enhance bigger systems, rather than substituting them. Systems such as ChatGPT and another major AI system, he states, commonly find it challenging to handle regional languages and cultural aspects – communicating in stilted the Khmer language, as an example, or proposing non-vegetarian recipes to Malaysian consumers.

Building native-tongue LLMs enables national authorities to code in cultural nuance – and at least be “smart consumers” of a powerful system created overseas.

He continues, I am prudent with the concept sovereign. I think what we’re trying to say is we want to be more accurately reflected and we want to understand the capabilities” of AI systems.

Multinational Collaboration

For states attempting to find their place in an intensifying worldwide landscape, there’s another possibility: join forces. Researchers affiliated with a prominent policy school have suggested a public AI company shared among a consortium of middle-income nations.

They call the proposal “a collaborative AI effort”, modeled after the European successful strategy to develop a alternative to Boeing in the mid-20th century. This idea would see the establishment of a government-supported AI organization that would merge the capabilities of different states’ AI programs – such as the UK, the Kingdom of Spain, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the nation of Japan, the Republic of Singapore, the Republic of Korea, the French Republic, Switzerland and the Kingdom of Sweden – to develop a competitive rival to the American and Asian leaders.

The lead author of a study outlining the proposal notes that the concept has gained the interest of AI leaders of at least a few nations to date, in addition to several state AI organizations. Although it is now centered on “mid-sized nations”, emerging economies – Mongolia and the Republic of Rwanda included – have likewise shown curiosity.

He explains, Currently, I think it’s an accepted truth there’s less trust in the promises of the present White House. People are asking for example, is it safe to rely on any of this tech? In case they decide to