Data leakage, misuse, loss of autonomy… It won’t have escaped your notice that digital sovereignty is one of the big issues of the moment. But like an iceberg whose tip everyone can see, few people really appreciate its importance.
What do we mean by digital sovereignty? Definition.
Digital sovereignty refers to a country’s ability to exercise independent control over its data and digital infrastructures, as well as over the regulation of the technologies and services used by its citizens (for example, the nLPD or the European law on artificial intelligence). While the principle is simple, the difficulty lies in its application. We are all concerned, citizens and businesses alike, because every choice of service or technology we make contributes to this.
If it’s free, you’re the product!
Because of its intangible nature, the impact of digital sovereignty is often invisible and difficult to measure. Yet its effects affect everything from the economy to national security, and one of the major challenges revolves around the unsuspected importance of our data.
Although there is still work to be done in terms of democratisation, we are beginning to realise that when we use a free or paid but unregulated digital service, our data is collected in order to get to know us better. The side-effects are more or less risky: they can range from the “simple” influence of our consumer habits to the manipulation of our electoral choices and ways of thinking (influenced by the cognitive biases injected into AI learning data).
Worse still, our data is also being used to improve these AI tools, prompting certain companies to ‘steal’ from them with impunity: there are many scandalous examples of this, especially since the popularisation of generative AI. We recently learned that X (formerly Twitter) could use our tweets to train its AI, something that OpenAI is currently being accused of on a large scale in a class-action, for training ChatGPT and its DALL-E 2 image generator (OpenAI explicitly states that it reserves the right to use the data submitted to improve its system). Microsoft, GitHub and OpenAI are now being accused of intellectual piracy of the code of thousands of developers, and Gemini, which has just been released, has been criticised for saving your conversations for several years.
Europe has therefore forced companies to put up safeguards to ensure a future where citizens are not harmed in this digital Wild West. However, unlike digital services, regulation stops at the border, creating unfair competition between foreign tools (TikTok, Instagram, ChatGPT) and European services. With less regulation and data provided by users, the conditions are often more favourable for rapid growth. Yet in a world where we have been debating the impact of technology on employment for years, few people realise the extent to which our choice of digital services is reshaping the global labour market and redistributing economic power.
That’s why digital sovereignty is so important and why we, as consumers, are key players in preserving our values, our data, our economy and, ultimately, our jobs.
Isn’t sovereignty a hindrance in a globalised world?
It’s true that digital sovereignty could be perceived as a tendency towards technological isolationism. Too radical, it could create “digital walls” with a wide-ranging impact:
- On the operations of our multinational companies
- On the desire to standardise IT communications worldwide (so as not to reproduce the situation with electrical plugs, where each country has its own system)
- On the principles of freedom of expression and free trade, including censorship and/or curtailment of civil liberties.
So we need to strike the right balance between protection and openness. Europe has already started to act, recognising these issues as crucial. The rapid adoption of the IA Act is proof of this.
But it is also a reflection of the political and economic tug of war: by introducing legal constraints on data and AI, they hope to force major foreign players to rethink their strategy for accessing this market, creating opportunities for European players. Competition watchdogs are also on the alert.
Is it really possible to take action for sovereignty? Yes, the proof is in the pudding
With these observations in mind, Deeplink has been working for 4 years to offer its customers an artificial intelligence ecosystem that contributes to Switzerland’s digital sovereignty.
- From the outset, we chose a Swiss supplier for our infrastructure: Infomaniak (an eco-responsible supplier from Geneva).
- We decided to develop our own translation tool and free ourselves from Deepl (German translation tool).
- We offer an LLM system (generative AI) on our servers that allows us to do without OpenAI (chatGPT, an American tool) with performance to match.
- 100% of our workforce is based in Switzerland, with no offshoring, and a strong commitment to sustainability with our B-Corp certification, including a local economy.
- We guarantee confidentiality with treatment that complies with Swiss law and no dependence on third-party and/or foreign suppliers.
We have made a deliberate choice to commit to digital sovereignty, fully aware of the impact on our profitability costs, because contributing to the local economy is a priority for us. It’s a strong commitment that reflects our desire to support our community, to be responsible and to be part of the change that our society needs. It’s our way of playing an active role in the Swiss economy, with an emphasis on the long term.