Europe is accelerating efforts to reduce its heavy reliance on American tech giants by developing its own sovereign AI systems. The push comes three years after ChatGPT reshaped global awareness of artificial intelligence and highlighted the continent’s dependence on foreign platforms.
Rising concern over foreign dependence
A recent report from the European Parliament warned that the bloc remains tied to US technology, limiting Europe’s ability to build influential digital industries. Lawmakers fear the gap will widen as the US invests hundreds of billions of dollars in domestic AI development.
Countries launch national projects
National governments are now stepping in with their own large-scale initiatives. Germany recently unveiled SOOFI, an open-source foundation model designed for advanced tasks, including robotics. The project aims to create AI that upholds European values and can be adapted by businesses and public services.
Switzerland has introduced Apertus, a multilingual model trained on vast datasets covering more than one thousand languages. Its developers promise full openness, allowing researchers and companies to inspect and customise the model for specialised needs.
Poland launched PLLuM, tailored specifically to the complexities of the Polish language. Officials plan to expand it into Hive AI, a system supporting government services and digital learning tools.
Southern and Western Europe join the effort
Spain has rolled out Alia, a multilingual infrastructure powered by a major supercomputer. The system will support startups, government services and even medical applications.
The Netherlands is developing GPT-NL, an open-source model trained on high-quality Dutch media content, while Portugal is building Amalia, a domestic AI designed for use in public administration and scientific research.
Across the continent, these projects mark Europe’s bold attempt to claim technological independence.
