Aidan Gomez on technological sovereignty
From Gibt es für Europa und Kanada noch eine Chance auf Unabhängigkeit, Aidan Gomez? · · Handelsblatt
“The past 30 years have seen a sort of gradual what I would describe as hollowing out of technological capability within Canada, within Europe. And we've introduced what is a ostensibly a single point of failure. Everyone buys technology from one place and if that place goes through political turmoil, if some crisis is introduced, that is a fundamental risk to the entire democratic project.”
On , Aidan Gomez, CEO and Cofounder at Cohere, spoke about technological sovereignty during Gibt es für Europa und Kanada noch eine Chance auf Unabhängigkeit, Aidan Gomez? on Handelsblatt.
About Aidan Gomez
Aidan Gomez, CEO and cofounder of Cohere, has been speaking publicly about the need for Canada and Europe to develop independent technological capabilities, particularly in artificial intelligence. In a June 2026 interview, Gomez discussed Cohere's acquisition of German AI startup Aleph Alpha, a deal that German Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger personally supported. Gomez argued that over the past 30 years, Canada and Europe have experienced a "hollowing out of technological capability," creating a single point of failure by relying on technology from one source. He stated that capitalism does not naturally produce strategic sovereign imperatives and that governments must intentionally introduce such priorities. Gomez also warned that if countries do not retain the ability to protect critical infrastructure such as power grids, water systems, and financial institutions from AI-powered cyberattacks, it poses an existential risk to national security. In other appearances, Gomez addressed the AI industry's pricing divide and the cost of scaling. He said that for governments and regulated industries, Chinese AI models are not an option, and organizations that need to trust their models will pay a premium for Western, democratically aligned technology. He noted a market shift toward smaller, more efficient models as CFOs look to optimize AI spending. Gomez also emphasized the importance of private deployment of AI infrastructure to reduce vulnerability to exploitation. He described Cohere's founding in Toronto as an intentional choice to support resilience and independence, and said the company maintains a "friends with everyone" approach by not locking customers into any single cloud ecosystem.