Completely agree, Marcel. I spent yesterday with a customer having similar debates. We burned an hour on “AI sovereignty” hypotheticals - what if the US pulls the plug tomorrow - while the actual work stood still. If you want frontier models today, your options boil down to the two hyperscalers willing to give you the security and privacy guarantees your vertical/data needs. Switzerland is not spinning up Opus-class capacity any time soon, and waiting for that fantasy just keeps the use cases on the shelf.
If we are not careful and don't also invest more in a European tech stack, even with more formation of talented people we might suffer from a brain drain if they don't find the opportunities here.
Still of course it's not an either-or, but 'we need BOTH' situation.
Completely agree, Marcel. I spent yesterday with a customer having similar debates. We burned an hour on “AI sovereignty” hypotheticals - what if the US pulls the plug tomorrow - while the actual work stood still. If you want frontier models today, your options boil down to the two hyperscalers willing to give you the security and privacy guarantees your vertical/data needs. Switzerland is not spinning up Opus-class capacity any time soon, and waiting for that fantasy just keeps the use cases on the shelf.
Well written thoughts, dear Marcel - a good contribution to the discussion: Thanks!
Great thought!!
Dear Prof. Salathé
I agree with your view. Still I really would wish there were a bigger investment of Switzerland in the EU and of the EU in holding their own.
Articles like yours and the one of Bite Code! show a disturbing dependence on foreign tech, so I'm not sure that having talent will be enough.
The article I mentioned: https://www.bitecode.dev/p/the-eu-can-be-shut-down-with-a-few?publication_id=1516188&post_id=168641626&isFreemail=true&r=2j4tnq&triedRedirect=true
If we are not careful and don't also invest more in a European tech stack, even with more formation of talented people we might suffer from a brain drain if they don't find the opportunities here.
Still of course it's not an either-or, but 'we need BOTH' situation.
Best regards!