Digital sovereignty for middle powers in an age of AI and strategic competition

Digital sovereignty for middle powers in an age of AI and strategic competition

As competition between the United States and China intensifies and AI capabilities expand, middle powers are increasingly focused on the question of digital sovereignty: the ability to act independently in an AI and cloud-based world, with confidence in the availability of services, the security and privacy of sensitive data, and the alignment of AI systems with domestic laws and norms. Yet there are no straightforward solutions. The infrastructure underpinning cloud and AI systems is capital-intensive and globally integrated, and the scale of investment required for frontier AI makes full national self-sufficiency unrealistic. Digital isolation and autarky are theoretical options, but they come at such a significant economic and security cost as to render them implausible in practice. How, then, can middle powers secure resilience and confidence in essential services without cutting themselves off from the innovation and scale that a connected ecosystem provides? Middle powers must find ways to navigate this interconnected digital environment: taking advantage of AI’s opportunities while protecting core national interests. Although discussions on digital sovereignty are proliferating, there is no effective international forum that brings together governments, industry, civil society and partners to address these issues in the round. What practical steps can democratic states take now to strengthen resilience, protect sovereign data and ensure models conform to local norms? Where should investment and policy effort be concentrated? This Ditchley conference will launch a new programme of work to explore these questions, scoping out key areas to explore further, building on Ditchley’s previous work on data in democracies and complementing parallel discussions on AI’s implications for national security, scientific discovery and economic production.