Germany and France agree shared digital sovereignty definition as G7 debates access to US AI models
Germany and France agreed a shared definition of digital sovereignty as G7 leaders met in Evian to debate access to advanced US AI models. The talks follow Anthropic pulling its top models worldwide under a US order, exposing how fast allies can be cut off.
Germany and France have agreed on a common definition of digital sovereignty, a step meant to reduce European dependence on foreign technology, protect sensitive data and strengthen homegrown alternatives. German digital minister Karsten Wildberger called digital sovereignty a geopolitical imperative of the moment. The announcement coincides with the G7 summit in Evian, France, where leaders and the chief executives of the largest AI companies, including OpenAI's Sam Altman, Anthropic's Dario Amodei and Google $GOOGL DeepMind's Demis Hassabis, gathered to discuss frontier AI, infrastructure and sovereignty. The urgency behind the European push became clear after Anthropic recently withdrew its most advanced models worldwide to comply with a US administration order barring non-Americans from accessing them. That episode showed how quickly allied governments and companies can be cut off from critical AI capabilities when access is controlled in Washington. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz argued that advanced technologies should be available to all states and pointed to large potential uses across the banking system. For Europe, the question is whether a shared definition and political statements can translate into real capacity. Sovereign AI ambitions depend on domestic compute, models and talent, areas where the continent still trails the United States. The G7 discussions reflect a growing recognition that access to advanced AI is becoming a strategic dependency on par with energy and semiconductors.