Advancing Sovereign AI Across the Global South
People often ask me, after four decades of operating at the highest levels of tech and public service, why I am still here — why have I chosen to step forward again, at this moment.
For me, the answer is obvious. Over the last decade, my work has focused on protecting children from the dangers of a digital world that was not designed for them.
We have seen what happens when technology is built without safeguards — when the most vulnerable, our children, are left unprotected. Now we are building AI with unprecedented powers — systems that learn, decide, and act in ways even their creators do not fully understand. And this moment demands that we act with foresight and courage — because what is at stake is much more than how AI shapes our economies, it is the dignity and safety of the next generation.
We have a chance to change that story — to build technology that protects, includes, and uplifts.
And nowhere is that more urgent than in the parts of the world where the next generation will shape our shared future.
Because the Global South represents the youngest populations on earth. Their future depends on whether we act differently this time: whether we build systems with safeguards from the start, whether we empower rather than exclude, whether we put dignity and humanity at the centre of AI design.
That is why we are here. That is why the moment is now.
We are living through an unprecedented turning point in human history. For the first time, we are encountering a force that evolves, learns, and behaves in ways we cannot always predict. Artificial intelligence is not merely another technology. It has the potential to alter the very foundations of how we perceive reality, understand nature, and define our place within it.
How we guide this powerful force will determine whether AI erodes trust or strengthens our shared humanity. The stakes could not be higher.
If these young citizens grow up as passive users of systems built elsewhere, their agency will be diminished. But if we support them with sovereign tools, education, and the ability to shape their own AI futures, we will unleash the greatest wave of empowerment and innovation the world has ever seen.
That is why we are here today.
Our mission at the Responsible AI Future Foundation is to ensure that every sovereign nation can harness the benefits of AI as empowered stewards of their own future.
Many countries already have national AI strategies. Yet too few have live systems improving healthcare, agriculture, education, energy, or citizen services. What is missing is a repeatable playbook — with reference architectures, secure data pipelines, safety guardrails, and delivery partners that help nations move from aspiration to execution in months, not years.
That is the gap RAIFF is designed to fill.
Our first phase is about knowledge. We will provide governments with the capacity to plan, and prepare — building skills and helping nations design their own AI constitutions. These constitutions willl ensure that each country’s laws, cultures, and priorities are built into the models they use. Phase One is about empowering nations through understanding — giving them the tools to direct AI on their terms.
Phase Two is about execution. This is where we mobilise the infrastructure needed to make sovereign AI real. It rests on four pillars:
- Sovereign AI stacks for national priorities like healthcare, agriculture, education, and citizen services.
- Capacity acceleration with technical support, playbooks, and partnerships to turn plans into live systems.
- Energy as infrastructure — because compute is cognition, and cognition runs on power. Without reliable, lower-carbon grids and resilient data centres, AI diffusion will remain out of reach.
- Helping to define new economic models — enabling countries to exchange resources, energy, or data for AI access, or simply pay for what they use in a utility-style model. This is how we avoid debt and dependency, and unlock new forms of development finance.
This two-phase journey — from knowledge to execution — is how we will make sovereign AI real for all.
Abu Dhabi has positioned itself as a pioneer of a fairer system for global diffusion. The UAE–US AI Stargate Campus, designed to serve half the world’s population, is an anchor of this vision. And because Abu Dhabi sits outside traditional power blocs, it can act as a neutral convenor, trusted by both North and South.
That neutrality matters. Because the AI future belongs to all of us.
What does this mean in practice? A proof-of-concept that can scale into a coalition of countries. And each success story strengthens the case that AI diffusion is not zero-sum. A world where more nations produce knowledge, create in their own languages, and deliver better services is a world that is more stable, more prosperous, and ultimately safer for everyone.
The future is already knocking at our door. And history will ask what we did in this moment. Did we turn away, leaving billions without a voice in shaping the systems that will govern their lives? Or did we step forward, together, to build an AI economy that reflects the richness of humanity and serves everyone?
Here in Abu Dhabi, we make our choice.
Because AI is what we make it. And together, we can make it serve us all.
