EU Sovereign AI: Collaboration crucial to AI and cloud success

Adrian Sommer, Data, AI solution Strategist, Schwarz Digits/Stackit Data, AI, took the bull by the horns: “Ultimately, we don't think that sovereign AI can be built by just one organisation. I think if we're open, Europe currently has difficulties providing that ecosystem to companies, but if we bundle our efforts, if we collaborate, then we actually have a shot at it, and we see that the AI space is currently taking a new turn. We're not building foundational models anymore, but we're building specialised models for certain purposes, and AI is becoming more and more democratised.”  

Tobias Walter, Professor, Process Science, Hochschule Mainz, University of Applied Sciences, echoed the pervasive point: “The simplest action [required] is always willingness. Willingness to collaborate. Willingness to find common demands. Willingness to implement and realise first pilots or use cases…”  

Jeff Kember, Broadcast Industry Developer Relations, Nvidia, advised EU enterprises and public sector bodies that aspire to sovereign AI and cloud to take a pragmatic stance: “Have reasonable goals that are achievable and in reasonable time periods, where you can characterise what success looks like, then achieve that, then build on that. It's daunting if you aim to train a foundational model or something out of the gate. Instead, you have a problem that needs solving. Make a list of them, pick off the one that is going to be most useful to you and achievable, with the highest chance of success. Go and chase that.”  

Sommer concluded by referencing a quote by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this year: "If we're not at the table, we're on the menu.” Of this quote, Sommer said: “I think that summarises the current situation very well. Canada, of course, has taken the lead on this. Back in 2018, when Geoffrey Hinton started the Vector Institute, he foresaw that at some point we would end up in a situation where AI is not democratised, where it's bundled in certain clusters, and we see that in the United States. We see that also in China. Unfortunately, in Europe, we're little bit behind, but we're working on it”, he warned.   

The panel for “Sovereign AI and Sovereign Cloud in Media” consisted of: Hans Hoffman, Deputy Director, EBU Technology and Innovation Department, Media Technology Strategies, EBU; Jeff Kember, Broadcast Industry Developer Relations, Nvidia; Tobias Walter, Professor, Process Science, Hochschule Mainz, University of Applied Sciences; Jörg Nowak, CRO, Blockbrain; and Adrian Sommer, Data, AI solution Strategist, Schwarz Digits/Stackit Data and AI.