AI sovereignty is about options, not ownership
ÉVIAN — The U.S. government’s sudden decision, on June 12, to restrict foreign access to some of Anthropic’s most advanced models is further confirmation that AI is now a geopolitical issue of the highest order. Until recently, countries competed by building services, infrastructure, and applications on top of frontier artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Now, access to the systems themselves is a strategic concern. The prevailing assumption used to be that AI would follow the logic of globalization. Countries would rely on a handful of frontier models, mostly developed in the United States, while competing in downstream services, semiconductors, data, and applications. Access to the most advanced AI systems was largely taken for granted. But if this assumption no longer holds, the central question is not which model is best, but which can be accessed at all. With frontier capabilities becoming an issue of national security and diplomacy, governments will be tempted to pursue “AI sovereignty” through the development of national champions or domestic alternatives to the lead
