Rethink... who owns our technology

In June, the US technology firm Anthropic blocked access to its most advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos, because the White House wanted to stop foreign nationals from accessing them, citing security concerns.

These actions highlighted the heavy reliance many countries and industries have on american-owned technology, and raised fears the US government could activate a political or literal "kill-switch", shutting down essential services and infrastructure.

In the weeks following this incident, Open AI, Anthropic and Meta all admitted that AI models they were testing had also gone rogue, hacking into other systems without being asked to.

So is it time for a Tech-xit - a move away from the technology provided by Silicon Valley?

The UK, the EU and other middling powers around the world are now seeking digital sovereignty as an active policy goal. But in this interconnected world dominated by US and Chinese big tech, is it possible to take back control?

Presenter: Ben Ansell
Producer: Ravi Naik
Editor: Damon Rose

Contributors:
Anu Bradford, Professor at Columbia Law School, and author of Digital Empires and the Brussels Effect
Tera Allas, honorary Professor at the Productivity Institute at the Alliance Manchester Business School
Alex Krasodomski, director of the digital society programme at Chatham House.
Yang Li, co-founder of Cosine, the startup behind Lumen Sovereign AI