NEW DELHI — Sovereign AI requires deep collaborations across borders, not cutting ties from global tech powers, Canada’s Minister for AI and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon said Thursday at the AI Summit. Speaking alongside Indian officials, Solomon stressed that Canada and India share goals of controlling their digital futures while mitigating AI risks.

Solomon, who met multiple times with India’s IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, revealed the two sides are drafting a series of memorandums of understanding to formalize cooperation. ‘We share a common goal of building Sovereign AI, and making sure that we have options and not just one customer from one country,’ Solomon said. He pointed to Tata Consultancy Services, which employs nearly 10,000 people in Canada, as a prime example of building integrated tech stacks together.

Defining sovereign AI, Solomon explained it means owning infrastructure from data centers to application intellectual property. Canada hosts Cohere, one of only four major large language models worldwide, providing a non-U.S., non-Chinese alternative. ‘Sovereignty doesn’t mean isolation. It means having trusted partnerships and options,’ he said. Recent moves include a sovereign technology alliance Canada signed with Germany just days ago. Solomon positioned India as a key ally in education, research, stack-building and IP retention.

AI safety forms a core pillar of this approach, Solomon added. At the summit, AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio revealed LawZero, an AI system designed to monitor and police other AIs for harmful actions. Canada plans to provide major financial backing through a letter of intent, with other nations joining. Solomon hopes India will participate, noting Vaishnaw’s support for both technical and legislative safeguards.

LawZero targets AI behaviors that could cause harm, but data privacy falls to governments, Solomon clarified. Canada is updating privacy laws to ensure data security, personal privacy and transparency in AI data use. ‘You need both a technical solution, where we are investing, and a governance solution,’ he said.

Addressing job displacement fears—especially acute in India’s vast workforce—Solomon drew on history. The Industrial Revolution and internet boom each created more jobs than they erased, he noted. Still, governments must act fast on skills training. ‘In this initial wave of AI, those who can use the technology will have a distinct advantage,’ Solomon said. Rapid evolution demands parallel investment in human capital, he urged.

These talks build on broader Indo-Canadian tech ties. With Tata’s footprint in Canada and shared aversion to over-reliance on dominant players, the partnership aims to balance innovation speed with autonomy. Solomon’s summit appearance highlights Canada’s push for a multipolar AI landscape, where allies like India fortify national strategies against risks.