Digital Sovereignty or Digital Fragmentation? Risks and Remedies in Global AI Governance

As artificial intelligence systems increasingly underpin economic infrastructure, public services, and geopolitical decision-making, the debate over digital sovereignty has become a defining regulatory challenge of our time. Governments around the world are asserting greater control over data, algorithms, and platforms—often in the name of national security, economic competitiveness, or ethical accountability. Yet this growing trend also risks producing digital fragmentation: a fractured global landscape in which incompatible regulatory regimes stifle cross-border innovation, inhibit scientific collaboration, and create blind spots in AI risk oversight.

This session will explore the tension between national digital sovereignty and the need for international regulatory coordination, drawing on case studies from the United States, European Union, and China. We will assess how divergent models of AI governance are shaping the contours of global AI development. The talk will examine where convergence is possible, where it is unlikely, and what strategies could mitigate fragmentation without compromising legitimate sovereign interests.

In a moment when technological acceleration outpaces policymaking, this session offers a pragmatic roadmap to align innovation incentives with public interest—without allowing global AI governance to splinter into irreconcilable silos.