What is Sovereign AI and why do we think it should be a part of NZ’s AI Strategy.
Sovereign AI refers to a nation's capability to develop, manage, and utilise artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in alignment with its own values, regulations, and interests, ensuring digital sovereignty and security.
This concept is gaining prominence as AI transforms various aspects of human society, including the economy, health, education, security, and culture.
Nations are investing heavily in building their own AI capabilities and ecosystems to gain global competitive advantages and strategic influence.
Developing a sovereign AI model presents significant economic opportunities for New Zealand. AI is projected to contribute $76 billion to the country's annual GDP by 2038, highlighting the potential for substantial economic growth1. By investing in its own AI capabilities, New Zealand can:
Enhance its global competitiveness by reducing dependency on foreign AI technologies
Foster innovation across various sectors, creating new business models and optimizing processes
Nurture a thriving AI ecosystem, potentially leading to the emergence of world-leading AI businesses
Capture a larger share of the economic potential offered by AI technologies
Create high-value jobs in the AI and related fields, helping to retain local talent and expertise
For New Zealand, the importance of Sovereign AI lies in several key areas:
Economic and Social Development: Sovereign AI can drive innovation, productivity, and economic growth. By developing homegrown AI solutions, New Zealand can enhance its competitiveness in the global market. This includes creating new business models, optimising processes, and generating valuable insights across various sectors.
National Security and Defense: Sovereign AI plays a crucial role in national security and defense, enabling New Zealand to protect its digital infrastructure and data against threats and vulnerabilities. This includes the development of AI technologies for surveillance, cybersecurity, and defense applications, ensuring the country's safety and sovereignty.
Ethical and Cultural Alignment: Sovereign AI allows New Zealand to shape and govern AI technologies according to its unique vision, values, and ethical standards. This is particularly important in a country like New Zealand, where there is a strong emphasis on respecting the Treaty of Waitangi and ensuring that AI technologies are developed and used in ways that are beneficial and respectful to all New Zealanders, including Māori.
Data Sovereignty and Privacy: With the increasing importance of data in the digital economy, Sovereign AI ensures that New Zealand has control over its data. This includes the ability to protect personal information, intellectual property, and other sensitive data from unauthorised access or exploitation, in compliance with national data protection laws and regulations.
International Collaboration and Standards: By developing Sovereign AI capabilities, New Zealand can contribute to and influence the formation of international AI standards and norms. This includes participating more in global partnerships and coalitions, such as the Global Partnership on AI, to promote interoperability, accountability, and sustainability in AI technologies.
Innovation and Workforce Development: Investing in Sovereign AI can spur innovation and foster the development of a skilled workforce in New Zealand. This includes education and training programs in AI and related fields, creating opportunities for New Zealanders to participate in the AI-driven economy.
Sovereign AI is crucial for New Zealand as it offers a pathway to harness the benefits of AI technologies while ensuring they align with the country's values, regulations, and interests.
It supports economic growth, national security, ethical development, data sovereignty, international collaboration, and workforce development, positioning New Zealand as a leader in ethical and innovative AI development on the global stage.
Interestingly, global heavyweights Oracle and NVIDIA have announced their expanded collaboration to deliver sovereign AI solutions worldwide.
The collaboration between Oracle and NVIDIA is not just about enhancing AI capabilities; it's about ensuring that these advancements are accessible and beneficial to all sectors of New Zealand's economy.
By leveraging Oracle's distributed cloud, AI infrastructure, and generative AI services alongside NVIDIA's accelerated computing and generative AI software, this partnership aims to establish AI factories. These factories are envisioned to run cloud services locally, within a nation's or organisation's secure premises, thus supporting sovereign objectives of diversifying and enhancing economic growth.
Mongolia has made significant strides in developing its own AI capabilities, with several notable initiatives and projects underway:
Egune AI: Mongolia's First Large Language Model
In late 2023, Mongolia introduced Egune AI, the country's first-ever Mongolian large language model (LLM)[18]. This marks a significant milestone in Mongolia's AI development, demonstrating the country's commitment to creating AI solutions tailored to its language and cultural context.
AI-Based Chatbot for Government Communication
In October 2024, the Mongolian government introduced an AI-based chatbot aimed at promoting the Government Action Program for 2024-2028 to the public[7]. This chatbot is designed to share information about the implementation and progress of 14 mega projects through the government website, as well as receive feedback and inquiries from citizens.
AI for E-Government Services
The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation, and Communications has implemented AI capabilities in the E-Mongolia platform to suggest government services to citizens proactively, based on their needs and circumstances[19]. This integration of AI into public services demonstrates Mongolia's commitment to leveraging technology for improved governance.
AI Development in Education
The Ministry of Education and Science of Mongolia is working on a project to develop AI virtual assistants to help teachers plan lessons. This initiative shows the country's efforts to integrate AI into the education sector.
Ongoing AI Strategy Development
As of early 2025, Mongolia is in the process of formulating its national AI strategy:
1. The concept of "Data Governance and National Artificial Intelligence Strategy of Mongolia" is set to be discussed in January 2025
2. Mongolia plans to officially announce its "National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence" to the world in February 2025
3. The country is conducting a comprehensive assessment of its AI preparedness using the official methodology of Oxford Insight
While these developments show significant progress, it's important to note that Mongolia is still in the early stages of its AI journey. The country ranked 98th out of 188 countries in the 2024 Government AI Readiness Index, advancing 11 positions from the previous year. This indicates that while Mongolia is making strides, there is still room for growth and development in its AI capabilities.
Transparency: this article was written by Justin Flitter, enhanced in Perplexity, then edited and reviewed by before publishing.
