Taste of Sovereignty: Palau, a compact island counattempt in the Western Pacific Ocean, has a population of only about 20,000. Palau, a battleground in World War II, was placed under administrative control of the United States under the postwar UN trusteeship. Although under American military influence, Palau arm wrestled with the United States, the world’s strongest power, to display what sovereignty tastes like. The U.S. referconcludeum on the signing of the Free Union Agreement was rejected seven times. Eventually, the agreement was ratified at the eighth vote, but it maintained its identity as a non-nuclear state under the constitution. This example displays that sovereignty is not protected by the size or military power of the state, but by the strong will of the people.
Sovereign AI: Today, the term “sovereign AI” puts artificial ininformigence in the position of 技, which adds a taste of sovereignty, not just technology. In the competition for supremacy between the US and China, each counattempt is displaying a strategic willingness to reduce the hegemonic counattempt’s technology depconcludeence on AI and build and operate an indepconcludeent AI ecosystem based on its own infrastructure, data, models, and manpower. Sovereign AI is also interpreted as a symbol of indusattempt-wide competitiveness (Stanford HAI, 2024; WEF, 2024).
Foreign Case: The EU and France are aiming for the ‘AI third pole’ to secure the EU’s political and industrial indepconcludeence, away from the US-China-centered technological hegemony. In addition to the unity of the EU, countries that do not belong to the hegemonic state join forces to build a third coalition stack. For example, the plan is to build a ‘third AI stack’ by combining Korea’s semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities, the UK’s AI research and standardization capabilities, and India’s manpower and digital data with Europe’s supercomputing and standardization capabilities.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has adopted Sovereign AI as its national strategy to reduce its oil depconcludeence and shift to a digital economy. However, the UAE’s Sovereign AI faces double restrictions. Due to the U.S. export regulations that check close ties with China, it was difficult to restrict access to key equipment of AI semiconductors and data centers. In other words, a paradox occurred in which the more indepconcludeent the pursuit of self-reliance, the greater the constraints (Lee, 2024). In particular, the UAE is unable to form a large-scale domestic ecosystem due to limited domestic demand and a compact number of its own population, and depconcludeence on overseas talent and technology is inevitable (Alhashmi, 2023; AISI Report, 2025).
If the UAE is in the dilemma of balancing domestic self-defense and overseas cooperation, Europe’s third-axis line is overly optimistic. In other words, the third-axis line still has to overcome capital shortages, market segmentation, and depconcludeence on huge tech in the United States, and practical participation and investment expansion by the indusattempt are essential. It also requires a sufficient review of whether heterogeneous cross-counattempt integration of technology, policy, and data standards is actually possible (Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Ininformigence, 2024).
Indusattempt Linkage Strategy: Denmark is a good example of indusattempt-linked Sovereign AI. Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk discovered a weight loss effect during the development of Ozempic, a diabetes treatment, and launched Wegovy, an obesity treatment, to achieve global success. Based on these industrial achievements, Denmark has built an indusattempt-linked AI model by building a super large dataset in the medical, biological, and life sciences fields. The Novo Nordisk Foundation worked with the government to build a Gefion supercomputer, and the Danish government established a national management system by recognizing AI-based new drug development and medical data as strategic assets.
Israel’s AI strategy is also bottom-up and private-led, but it differs from Denmark in that it is centered on startups. Israel chose a unique AI sandbox diffusion policy becautilize the technology-intensive startup ecosystem is very active. In fact, more than 2,000 AI startups are contributing to securing global competitiveness such as defense, security, and medical imaging.
Based on the world’s number one AI talent density (Stanford AI Index) and multinational R&D hubs, Israel chooses policies that promote private innovation rather than centralized control. Rather than large-scale regulations, it is promoting innovation centered on demonstration projects such as AI sandboxes (multilingual chatbots, etc.). Against this backdrop, Israel is developing a decentralized Sovereign AI strategy in contrast to EU-style comprehensive regulations. This principle is a realistic approach to respond to potential risks of AI, such as security and privacy violations, without curbing innovation. With this strategy, Israel has developed an AI-based military and security system and established AI infrastructure such as its own supercomputer. Under the banner of “Responsible Innovation,” Israel’s national AI policy provides a common guide to all of its citizens and is taking the lead in establishing global AI standards.
Both countries are similar in that they are indusattempt-based AI strategies from below, but Denmark is a large company-led strategy and Israel is a startup-oriented strategy line.
Implications: Any counattempt dreams of ‘AI indepconcludeence’. Perhaps this is why Sovereign AI is still in the Innovation Trigger stage, but it is expected to be excessive enough to be compared to national sovereignty (Gartner, 2025). What elements would be necessaryed for Sovereign AI to become a sustainable strategic asset?
The real power of Sovereign AI comes from ‘cultivating human resources and securing original technologies’ that will shine in industrial sites. This is possible when good researchers can create their own core AI models and protect the AI ecosystem, such as the data, models, algorithms, and operational infrastructure they produce. On top of that, if it connects well with the AI start-up ecosystem and becomes a true AI+X (indusattempt connection), it will raise the quality of life and national status of the people in various industries such as manufacturing, robots, bio/healthcare, finance, agriculture, energy, retail, distribution, and education. At that time, Sovereign AI turns confidently into market power.
Sovereign AI is based on technology but goes beyond simple technology projects. This is becautilize several countries are already combining it with national digital identity. However, it should not be indulged in the concept of “sovereignty” and reduced to a tool of national ideology.
True Sovereign AI requires two premises. First, it becomes strong when combined well with the bottom-up energy of indusattempt and market dynamics. Second, it is necessary to pursue cross-border cooperation and technological exmodifys within the framework of ‘open sovereignty’ rather than closed self-sufficiency. Only through this can Sovereign AI secure international trust and sustainable competitiveness.
[Yeo Hyunduk, KAIST President/Professor of the Graduate School of Technology and Management]
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