{"id":25040,"date":"2025-07-01T13:04:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T10:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/emerging-economies-need-sovereign-ai-say-experts\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T13:04:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T10:04:36","slug":"emerging-economies-need-sovereign-ai-say-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/emerging-economies-need-sovereign-ai-say-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Emerging economies need sovereign AI, say experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

As large language models (LLMs) become more accessible, developing countries need to build sovereign AI. That was the conclusion reached<\/a> by participants at CNBC\u2019s East Tech West conference in Thailand.<\/p>\n

Sovereign AI refers to a state\u2019s ability to control its own technologies, data and infrastructure, ensuring autonomy and meeting unique security priorities and needs.<\/p>\n

Such capability remains scarce, said Kasima Tarnpipitchai, head of AI strategy at SCB\u202f10X.<\/p>\n

He noted that many of the world\u2019s best-known large LLMs are built around English.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe way you think, how you interact with the world and who you become when you speak another language can be completely different,\u201d said Tarnpipitchai.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hence countries should assume responsibility for their own AI systems, developing technologies for specific languages, cultures and nations rather than simply translating English-based models, the expert said.<\/p>\n

Panellists agreed that the ASEAN<\/span> region, with a population of about 700 million, is especially well-suited to building sovereign AI. About 61% of the population is under 35, and roughly 125,000 people come online each day.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think this is really important, and we are focused on how we can democratize access to cloud technologies and AI,\u201d said Jeff Johnson, Amazon\u2019s managing director for the ASEAN region.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Open-source AI<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Participants stressed that using open-source models should be a key means of creating a sovereign AI environment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand, there is a great deal of outstanding talent. And if this potential is not realized in a way that makes it accessible to society or helps the ecosystem develop, that would be a real missed opportunity,\u201d said Tarnpipitchai.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The expert added that working with open source is a way to create \u201ccollective energy\u201d that will help Thailand compete better in AI and advance sovereignty to the benefit of the whole country.<\/p>\n

Open source refers to software whose code is publicly available. This allows anyone to review and adapt it.<\/p>\n

Among the most prominent players in open AI are the American Meta<\/a> and China\u2019s DeepSeek<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cecily Ng, vice president and CEO for the ASEAN and Greater China regions at Databricks, stressed that the emergence of more open-source AI models gives companies and governments a wider range of options than relying on a few closed models.<\/p>\n

Localising compute<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Beyond language localisation, using local infrastructure and compute to run neural networks is no less important, said Prem Pavan, vice president and general manager for Southeast Asia and Korea at Red Hat.<\/p>\n

Panellists noted that in developing countries such as Thailand, cloud providers with local operations can address this need. That includes AWS, Microsoft Azure, Tencent Cloud, AIS Cloud and True IDC.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are here in Thailand and across the Southeast Asian region to support all industries, all businesses of every shape and size \u2014 from the smallest startups to the largest enterprises,\u201d said Johnson of AWS.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to him, the company\u2019s cloud-services economic model lets you \u201cpay for what you use\u201d \u2014 lowering barriers to entry and simplifying the creation of models and applications.<\/p>\n

AI in Southeast Asia<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Across Southeast Asia, countries have varied strategies and initiatives to develop AI:<\/p>\n