The writer is former editor-in-chief of Wired magazine and writes Futurepolis, a newsletter on the future of democracy

Point your browser at publicai.co and you will experience a new kind of artificial intelligence, called Apertus. Superficially, it looks and behaves much like any other generative AI chatbot: a simple webpage with a prompt bar, a blank canvas for your curiosity. But it is also a vision of a possible future.

With generative AI largely in the hands of a few powerful companies, some national governments are attempting to create sovereign versions of the technology that they can control. This is taking various forms. Some build data centres or provide AI infrastructure to academic researchers, like the US’s National AI Research Resource or a proposed “Cern for AI” in Europe. Others offer locally tailored AI models: Saudi-backed Humain has launched a chatbot trained to function in Arabic and respect Middle Eastern cultural norms.