The chief executive of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, has said India can play a central role in guiding global responses to the security and economic risks linked to AI.
Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, he argued that the world’s largest democracy is well placed to become a partner and leader in shaping the responsible development of advanced systems.
Amodei explained that Anthropic hopes to work with India on the testing and evaluation of models for safety and security. He stressed growing concern over autonomous behaviours that may emerge in advanced systems and noted the possibility of misuse by individuals or governments.
He pointed to the work of international and national AI safety institutes as a foundation for joint efforts and added that the economic effect of AI will be significant and that India and the wider Global South could benefit if policymakers prepare early.
Through its Economic Futures programme and Economic Index, Anthropic studies how AI reshapes jobs and labour markets.
He said the company intends to expand information sharing with Indian authorities and bring economists, labour groups, and officials into regular discussions to guide evidence-based policy instead of relying on assumptions.
Amodei said AI is set to increase economic output and that India is positioned to influence emerging global frameworks. He signalled a strong interest in long-term cooperation that supports safety, security, and sustainable growth.
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Institutions, researchers, and media organisations in the EU are intensifying efforts to use AI to counter disinformation, even as concerns grow about the wider impact on media freedom and public trust.
Confidence in journalism has fallen sharply across the EU, a trend made more severe by the rapid deployment of AI systems that reshape how information circulates online.
Brussels is attempting to respond with a mix of regulation and strategic investment. The EU’s AI Act is entering its implementation phase, supported by the AI Continent Action Plan and the Apply AI Strategy, both introduced in 2025 to improve competitiveness while protecting rights.
Yet manipulation campaigns continue to spread false narratives across platforms in multiple languages, placing pressure on journalists, fact-checkers and regulators to act with greater speed and precision.
Within such an environment, AI4TRUST has emerged as a prominent Horizon Europe initiative. The consortium is developing an integrated platform that detects disinformation signals, verifies content, and maps information flows for professionals who need real-time insight.
Partners stress the need for tools that strengthen human judgment instead of replacing it, particularly as synthetic media accelerates and shared realities become more fragile.
Experts speaking in Brussels warned that traditional fact-checking cannot absorb the scale of modern manipulation. They highlighted the geopolitical risks created by automated messaging and deepfakes, and argued for transparent, accountable systems tailored to user needs.
European officials emphasised that multiple tools will be required, supported by collaboration across institutions and sustained regulatory frameworks that defend democratic resilience.
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AI is reshaping the expectations placed on organisations, yet many local governments in the US continue to rely on procurement systems designed for a paper-first era.
Sealed envelopes, manual logging and physical storage remain standard practice, even though these steps slow essential services and increase operational pressure on staff and vendors.
The persistence of paper is linked to long-standing compliance requirements, which are vital for public accountability. Over time, however, processes intended to safeguard fairness have created significant inefficiencies.
Smaller businesses frequently struggle with printing, delivery, and rigid submission windows, and the administrative burden on procurement teams expands as records accumulate.
The author’s experience leading a modernisation effort in Somerville, Massachusetts showed how deeply embedded such practices had become.
Gradual adoption of digital submission reduced logistical barriers while strengthening compliance. Electronic bids could be time-stamped, access monitored, and records centrally managed, allowing staff to focus on evaluation rather than handling binders and storage boxes.
Vendor participation increased once geographical and physical constraints were removed. The shift also improved resilience, as municipalities that had already embraced digital procurement were better equipped to maintain continuity during pandemic disruptions.
Electronic records now provide a basis for responsible use of AI. Digital documents can be analysed for anomalies, metadata inconsistencies, or signs of manipulation that are difficult to detect in paper files.
Rather than replacing human judgment, such tools support stronger oversight and more transparent public administration. Modernising procurement aligns government operations with present-day realities and prepares them for future accountability and technological change.
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AI assistants deliver answers in seconds, but the process behind the scenes, called inference, is complex. Inference lets trained AI models generate responses, recommendations, or images, accounting for up to 90% of AI computing power.
AWS has built infrastructure to handle these fast, high-volume operations reliably and efficiently.
Inference involves four main stages: tokenisation, prefill, decoding, and detokenisation. Each step converts human input into machine-readable tokens, builds context, generates responses token by token, and converts output back to readable text.
AWS custom Trainium chips speed up the process while reducing costs. AI agents add complexity by chaining multiple inferences for multi-step tasks.
AWS uses its Bedrock platform, Project Mantle engine, and Journal tool to manage long-running requests, prioritise urgent tasks, and maintain low latency. Unified networking ensures efficiency and fairness across users.
By focusing on inference-first infrastructure, AWS lowers AI costs while enabling more advanced applications. Instant responses from AI assistants are the result of years of engineering, billions in investment, and systems built to scale globally.
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The Gemini app has introduced Lyria 3, the latest music-generation model from Google DeepMind, enabling users to create 30-second tracks from text prompts, images, or videos. The feature is rolling out in beta, marking a further expansion of creative tools within the platform.
Users can customise genre, tempo, and vocals, while the system generates lyrics automatically when needed. Tracks include AI-generated cover art and can be shared directly, aiming to provide a simple way to produce short, personalised soundtracks rather than full compositions.
Audio created in the app is embedded with SynthID watermarking to identify AI-generated content, alongside new verification tools that allow users to check whether files were produced using Google AI.
The model is designed to produce original material rather than replicate specific artists, supported by filters and reporting mechanisms.
Availability initially covers multiple major languages for users aged 18 and over, with higher usage limits offered to premium subscribers. Lyria 3 is also being integrated into YouTube creator tools to enhance Shorts soundtracks as the rollout expands.
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Narendra Modi presented the new MANAV Vision during the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, setting out a human-centred direction for AI.
He described the framework as rooted in moral guidance, transparent oversight, national control of data, inclusive access and lawful verification. He argued that the approach is intended to guide global AI governance for the benefit of humanity.
The Prime Minister of India warned that rapid technological change requires stronger safeguards and drew attention to the need to protect children. He also said societies are entering a period where people and intelligent systems co-create and evolve together instead of functioning in separate spheres.
He pointed to India’s confidence in its talent and policy clarity as evidence of a growing AI future.
Modi announced that three domestic companies introduced new AI models and applications during the summit, saying the launches reflect the energy and capability of India’s young innovators.
He invited technology leaders from around the world to collaborate by designing and developing in India instead of limiting innovation to established hubs elsewhere.
The summit brought together policymakers, academics, technologists and civil society representatives to encourage cooperation on the societal impact of artificial intelligence.
As the first global AI summit held in the Global South, the gathering aligned with India’s national commitment to welfare for all and the wider aspiration to advance AI for humanity.
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According to reporting by the BBC, Reddit is seeing renewed growth as users seek human interaction in an online environment increasingly filled with AI-generated content.
Reddit reported 116 million daily active users globally, marking a 19% year-on-year increase in its most recent third quarter.
The platform, historically associated with tech-oriented male users, has become more demographically balanced. Women now account for more than 50% of users in both the US and UK, and the platform is reportedly the fastest-growing social network among UK women.
Reddit operates through user-created communities known as subreddits, where posts are ranked by upvotes rather than chronological order. Volunteer moderators manage individual communities, while company administrators can intervene when necessary.
Chief Operating Officer Jen Wong said Reddit has preserved ‘human authenticity’ amid AI-driven content that has crowded the internet. Popular discussion areas include parenting, skincare, reality television, and deeply personal experiences such as pregnancy or hair loss, topics where peer perspectives and lived experience are valued.
However, experts caution that Reddit faces governance challenges. Dr Yusuf Oc of Bayes Business School notes that upvote systems can reward consensus rather than factual accuracy, potentially reinforcing echo chambers, groupthink, and coordinated manipulation tactics such as brigading and astroturfing. Moderation quality may vary across communities due to reliance on volunteers.
Reddit has also signed data licensing agreements with AI companies, including OpenAI, allowing tools such as ChatGPT to access Reddit content. A study commissioned by Reddit found it to be the most cited source across AI search tools, including Google AI Overviews and Perplexity.
Analysts suggest these agreements increase visibility but are not necessarily the primary driver of user growth. The article situates Reddit’s rise within a broader shift toward platforms perceived as offering candid, less polished discussion in contrast to influencer-driven or AI-generated content ecosystems.
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Anthropic and the Government of Rwanda have signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding to expand AI deployment across health, education and public sector services in Rwanda. The agreement marks Anthropic’s first multi-sector government partnership in Africa.
In Rwanda’s health system, Anthropic will support national priorities, including efforts to eliminate cervical cancer and reduce malaria and maternal mortality. Rwanda’s Ministry of Health will work with Anthropic to integrate AI tools aligned with national objectives.
Public sector developer teams in Rwanda will gain access to Claude and Claude Code, alongside training, API credits and technical support. The partnership also formalises an education programme launched in 2025 that provided 2,000 Claude Pro licences to educators in Rwanda.
Officials in Rwanda have said the collaboration focuses on capacity development, responsible deployment and local autonomy. Anthropic stated that investment in skills and infrastructure in Rwanda aims to enable safe and independent use of AI by teachers, health workers and public servants.
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Derived from the Latin word ‘superanus’, through the French word ‘souveraineté’, sovereignty can be understood as: ‘the ultimate overseer, or authority, in the decision-making process of the state and in the maintenance of order’ – Britannica. Digital sovereignty, specifically European digital sovereignty, refers to ‘Europe’s ability to act independently in the digital world’.
In 2020, the European Parliament already identified the consequences of reliance on non-EU technologies. From the economic and social influence of non-EU technology companies, which can undermine user control over their personal data, to the slow growth of the EU technology companies and a limitation on the enforcement of European laws.
Today, these concerns persist. From Romanian election interference on TikTok’s platform, Microsoft’s interference with the ICC, to the Dutch government authentication platform being acquired by a US firm, and booming American and Chinese LLMs compared to European LLMs. The EU is at a crossroads between international reliance and homegrown adoption.
The issue of the EU digital sovereignty has gained momentum in the context of recent and significant shifts in US foreign policy toward its allies. In this environment, the pursuit of the EU digital sovereignty appears as a justified and proportionate response, one that might previously have been perceived as unnecessarily confrontational.
In light of this, this analysis’s main points will discuss the rationale behind the EU digital sovereignty (including dependency, innovation and effective compliance), recent European-centric technological and platform shifts, the steps the EU is taking to successfully be digitally sovereign and finally, examples of European alternatives
Rationale behind the move
The reasons for digital sovereignty can be summed up in three main areas: (I) less dependency on non-EU tech, (ii) leading and innovating technological solutions, and (iii) ensuring better enforcement and subsequent adherence to data protection laws/fundamental rights.
(i) Less dependency: Global geopolitical tensions between US-China/Russia push Europe towards developing its own digital capabilities and secure its supply chains. Insecure supply chain makes Europe vulnerable to failing energy grids.
More recently, US giant Microsoft threatened the International legal order by revoking US-sanctioned International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s Microsoft software access, preventing the Chief Prosecutor from working on his duties at the ICC. In light of these scenarios, Europeans are turning to developing more European-based solutions to reduce upstream dependencies.
(ii) Leaders & innovators: A common argument is that Americans innovate, the Chinese copy, and the Europeans regulate. If the EU aims to be a digital geopolitical player, it must position itself to be a regulator which promotes innovation. It can achieve this by upskilling its workforce of non-digital trades into digital ones to transform its workforce, have more EU digital infrastructure (data centres, cloud storage and management software), further increase innovation spending and create laws that truly allow for the uptake of EU technological development instead of relying on alternative, cheaper non-EU options.
(iii) Effective compliance: Knowing that fines are more difficult to enforce towards non-EU companies than the EU companies (ex., Clearview AI), EU-based technological organisations would allow for corrective measures, warnings, and fines to be enforced more effectively. Thus, enabling more adherence towards the EU’s digital agenda and respect for fundamental rights.
Can the EU achieve Digital Sovereignty?
The main speed bumps towards the EU digital sovereignty are: i) a lack of digital infrastructure (cloud storage & data centres), ii) (critical) raw material dependency and iii) Legislative initiatives to facilitate the path towards digital sovereignty (innovation procurement and fragmented compliance regime).
i) lack of digital infrastructure: In order for the EU to become digitally sovereign it must have its own sovereign digital infrastructure.
In practice, the EU relies heavily on American data centre providers (i.e. Equinix, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services) hosted in the EU. In this case, even though the data is European and hosted in the EU, the company that hosts it is non-European. This poses reliance and legislative challenges, such as ensuring adequate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data when it is in transit to the US. Given the EU-US DPF, there is a legal basis for transferring EU personal data to the US.
However, if the DPF were to be struck down (perhaps due to the US’ Cloud Act), as it has been in the past (twice with Schrems I and Schrems II) and potentially Schrems III, there would no longer be a legal basis for the transfer of the EU personal data to a US data centre.
Previously, the EU’s 2022 Directive on critical entities resilience allowed for the EU countries to identify critical infrastructure and subsequently ensure they take the technical, security and organisational measures to assure their resilience. Part of this Directive covers digital infrastructure, including providers of cloud computing services and providers of data centres. From this, the EU has recently developed guidelines for member states to identify critical entities. However, these guidelines do not anticipate how to achieve resilience and leave this responsibility with member states.
ii) Raw material dependency: The EU cannot be digitally sovereign until it reduces some of its dependencies on other countries’ raw materials to build the hardware necessary to be technologically sovereign. In 2025, the EU’s goals were to create a new roadmap towards critical raw material (CRM) sovereignty to rely on its own energy sources and build infrastructure.
Thus, the RESourceEU Action Plan was born in December 2025. This plan contains 6 pillars: securing supply through knowledge, accelerating and promoting projects, using the circular economy and fostering innovation (recycling products which contain CRMs), increasing European demand for European projects (stockpiling CRMs), protecting the single market and partnering with third countries for long-lasting diversification. Practically speaking, part of this plan is to match Europe and or global raw material supply with European demand for European projects.
iii) Legislative initiatives to facilitate the path towards digital sovereignty:
Tackling difficult innovation procurement: the argument is to facilitate its uptake of innovation procurement across the EU. In 2026, the EU is set to reform its public procurement framework for innovation. The Innovation Procurement Update (IPU) team has representatives from over 33 countries (predominantly through law firms, Bird & Bird being the most represented), which recommends that innovation procurement reach 20% of all public procurement.
Another recommendation would help more costly innovative solutions to be awarded procurement projects, which in the past were awarded to cheaper procurement bids. In practice, the lowest price of a public procurement bid is preferred, and if it meets the remaining procurement conditions, it wins the bid – but de-prioritising this non-pricing criterion would enable companies with more costly innovative solutions to win public procurement bids.
Alleviating compliance challenges: lowering other compliance burdens whilst maintaining the digital aquis: recently announced at the World Economic Forum by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU.inc would help cross-border business operations scaling up by alleviating company, corporate, insolvency, labour and taxation law compliance burdens. By harmonising these into a single framework, businesses can more easily grow and deploy cross-border solutions that would otherwise face hurdles.
Power through data: another legislative measure to help facilitate the path towards the EU digital sovereignty is unlocking the potential behind European data. In order to research innovative solutions, data is required. This can be achieved through personal or non-personal data. The EU’s GDPR regulates personal data and is currently undergoing amendments. If the proposed changes to the GDPR are approved, i.e. a broadening of its scope, data that used to be considered personal (and thus required GDPR compliance) could be deemed non-personal and used more freely for research purposes. The Data Act regulate the reuse and re-sharing of non-personal data. It aims to simplify and bolster the fair reuse of non-personal data. Overall, both personal and non-personal data can give important insight that research can benefit from in developing European innovative sovereign solutions.
European alternatives
European companies have already built a network of European platforms, services and apps with European values at heart:
Category
Currently Used
EU Alternative
Comments
Social media
TikTok, X, Instagram
Monnet (Luxembourg)
‘W’ (Sweden)
Monnet is a social media app prioritises connections and non-addictive scrolling. Recently announced ‘W’ replaces ‘X’ and is gaining major traction with non-advertising models at its heart.
Email
Microsoft’s Outlook and Google’s gmail
Tuta (mail/calendar), Proton (Germany), Mailbox (Germany), Mailfence (Belgium)
Replace email and calendar apps with a privacy focused business model.
Search engine
Google Search and DuckDuckGo
Qwant (France) and Ecosia (German)
Qwant has focused on privacy since its launch in 2013. Ecosia is an ecofriendly focused business model which helps plant trees when users search
Video conferencing
Microsoft Teams and Slack a
Visio (France), Wire (Switzerland, Mattermost (US but self hosted), Stackfield (Germany), Nextcloud Talk (Germany) and Threema (Switzerland)
These alternatives are end-to-end encrypted. Visio is used by the French Government
Writing tools
Microsoft’s Word & Excel and Google Sheets, Notion
Most of these options provide cloud storage and NexCloud is a recurring alternative across categories.
Finance
Visa and Mastercard
Wero (EU)
Not only will it provide an EU wide digital wallet option, but it will replace existing national options – providing for fast adoption.
LLM
OpenAI, Gemini, DeepSeek’s LLM
Mistral AI (France) and DeepL (Germany)
DeepL is already wildly used and Mistral is more transparent with its partially open-source model and ease of reuse for developers
Hardware
Semi conductors: ASML (Dutch) Data Center: GAIA-X (Belgium)
ASML is a chip powerhouse for the EU and GAIA-X set an example of EU based data centres with it open-source federated data infrastructure.
A dedicated website called ‘European Alternatives’ provides exactly what it says, European Alternatives. A list with over 50 categories and 100 alternatives
Conclusion
In recent years, the Union’s policy goals have shifted towards overt digital sovereignty solutions through diversification of materials and increased innovation spending, combined with a restructuring of the legislative framework to create the necessary path towards European digital infrastructure.
Whilst this analysis does not include all speed bumps, nor avenues towards the road of the EU digital sovereignty, it sheds light on the EU’s most recent major policy developments. Key questions remain regarding data reuse, its impact on data protection fundamental rights and whether this reshaping of the framework will yield the intended results.
Therefore, how will the EU tread whilst it becomes a more coherent sovereign geopolitical player?
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Germany’s coalition government is weighing new restrictions on children’s access to social media as both governing parties draft proposals to tighten online safeguards. The debate comes amid broader economic pressures, with industry reporting significant job losses last year.
The conservative bloc and the centre-left Social Democrats are examining measures that could curb or block social media access for minors. Proposals under discussion include age-based restrictions and stronger platform accountability.
The Social Democrats in Germany have proposed banning access for children under 14 and introducing dedicated youth versions of platforms for users aged 14 to 16. Supporters argue that clearer age thresholds could reduce exposure to harmful content and addictive design features.
The discussions align with a growing European trend toward stricter digital child protection rules. Several governments are exploring tougher age verification and content moderation standards, reflecting mounting concerns over online safety and mental health.
The policy debate unfolded as German industry reported cutting 124,100 jobs in 2025 amid ongoing economic headwinds. Lawmakers face the dual challenge of safeguarding younger users while navigating wider structural pressures affecting Europe’s largest economy.
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