As countries race to build domestic artificial intelligence capabilities, the idea of “Sovereign AI” – AI systems developed using local infrastructure, datasets and governance frameworks – is increasingly becoming part of national technology strategies. Experts noted that governments across the world are now investing heavily in homegrown AI ecosystems amid concerns over data control, cybersecurity and dependence on foreign technology firms.
According to recent estimates by consulting firms such as McKinsey and PwC, AI could contribute trillions of dollars to the global economy over the next decade, prompting nations to secure their own technological capabilities rather than rely entirely on overseas platforms.
India, too, has accelerated its push in this direction through initiatives such as the IndiaAI Mission and investments in computing infrastructure, multilingual datasets and domestic AI startups. Against this backdrop, entrepreneur Ankush Sabharwal, founder and CEO of CoRover, has emerged as one of the industry voices advocating for what he describes as “Sovereign AI”.
Sabharwal claims to have first used the term during a February 2023 meeting with Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw while presenting BharatGPT, a multilingual AI model designed for Indian users. In a recent LinkedIn post, he said the concept was introduced during discussions on building AI systems rooted in Indian languages, local datasets and domestic infrastructure.
At the time, conversations around generative AI were gaining momentum globally following the rapid rise of large language models. India was simultaneously exploring ways to reduce technological dependence on foreign AI ecosystems while expanding digital public infrastructure. Industry experts say this environment helped accelerate interest in domestic AI models capable of serving regional languages and local governance requirements.
Sabharwal’s company later positioned BharatGPT as a population-scale AI platform tailored for Indian use cases, including governance services, multilingual communication and enterprise applications. The platform has also been showcased before senior government officials, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during discussions on India’s emerging AI ecosystem.
The broader idea behind Sovereign AI has since gained traction globally. Policymakers in Europe, the Middle East and Asia have increasingly discussed the need for national AI infrastructure amid rising concerns around data privacy, geopolitical tensions and control over critical digital systems. Analysts say countries are now treating AI infrastructure much like energy or telecom networks – as a strategic national asset.
Research reports from organisations including Deloitte and the World Economic Forum have highlighted how nations are moving toward “AI sovereignty” frameworks that prioritise local data governance, domestic compute infrastructure and region-specific models. Several governments have announced investments in sovereign cloud systems, AI data centres and indigenous large language models over the past two years.
In India, the government has committed Rs 10,372 crore under the IndiaAI Mission to strengthen AI infrastructure and research. The country is also expanding access to GPUs and public datasets through initiatives such as AI Kosh, aimed at supporting startups, researchers and public-sector innovation. India’s multilingual internet ecosystem is seen as one of the biggest drivers behind demand for locally trained AI systems.
CoRover has been among the Indian companies working in this segment. Global chipmaker NVIDIA has previously featured the company in a customer case study related to the use of NVIDIA NeMo tools for multilingual AI applications in India.