AI sovereignty for a free Europe

Social-media bans for minors, legally protected hate speech, free expression and the limits of state power

The fifth World Expression Forum, themed "The Freedom to Disagree", brought speakers and delegates from about fifty countries to Lillehammer. The opening day included Maria Ressa in conversation with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre; later speakers included Louis Theroux and Megan Phelps-Roper. I gave one of the opening speeches in two debates in the Braver Angels format, hosted by Samuel Rechek, and took the libertarian position in both: against banning social media for minors, and for keeping hateful speech legally protected. I argued that both questions turn on who decides which expression is allowed, and whether the state should hold that power. In his keynote, Støre took the opposing position and called on governments and media to hold technology companies responsible.

Open-weight AI procurement, BSPC resolution drafting, recommendations ahead of the Lübeck Annual Conference

The first side event of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) Standing Committee, held at DJH Scharbeutz and hosted by the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag, the BSPC Secretariat and the CBSS Secretariat. Thirteen delegates from across the Baltic Sea Region worked on recommendations over two and a half days. One of them, Open-Weight Models for Democracy, was taken into the resolution to be adopted at the BSPC Annual Conference in Lübeck this autumn. It proposes that public digital procurement reserve a defined share for open-weight AI developed in the region. This creates a baseline of demand without selecting a national champion, and keeps the public sector on infrastructure it can inspect, audit and govern. I argued that procurement is the only AI policy instrument that directly moves capital. I had made the same argument on the Sovereign Intelligence panel at the EUSBSR Forum in Tallinn three days earlier.

Security & geopolitics, demography & competitiveness, climate & environment, governance & financing

The 17th Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, the "Resilience Edition", hosted by the City of Tallinn, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CBSS Secretariat. On 13 May I spoke on the panel "Sovereign Intelligence: Strengthening Baltic Resilience through AI Local Value", moderated by Piotr Senkus, with Ott Velsberg (Chief Data Officer of the Estonian government), Michalina Szpyrka (Polish Ministry of Development), Raimundas Tuminauskas (PCSS, sovereign compute) and Anastasija Nikiforova (Tartu; in Stanford's top 2% list for AI). I spoke from the perspective of building and selling AI systems to small and mid-sized companies. My argument was that AI capabilities are advancing faster than European policy assumes. Europe builds on infrastructure it does not own, regulates a version of the technology that is already a generation old, and lacks the compute, capital and appetite for risk to close the gap on its own.

Hybrid threats to critical infrastructure, demographic competitiveness, World Café Policy Lab for the post-2027 programme

Political handover day at Kultuurikatel under the theme "Co-Governing Resilience: Shaping Secure, Connected and Thriving Societies", with mayors, regional leaders, foreign ministries and Interreg authorities, and our delegation from the 8–10 May programme. The agenda covered hybrid threats to critical infrastructure (cables, pipelines, ports), demographic competitiveness, and a World Café Policy Lab co-hosted with Interreg BSR as input for the post-2027 programme. The day ended with an endorsed set of policy messages for the EUSBSR Forum. I took part as a BSSSC delegate; our results from earlier in the week fed into the day's policy track.

AI sovereignty as a capability problem, cabinet-simulation workshop, workshop design

The opening part of the programme, before the political days, with BSSSC delegates from several Baltic Sea Region member countries. I attended as Lead of the CYR/BSRYF AI Working Group and designed the workshop "When the Model Says No: A Baltic Cabinet Simulation, 2028", which my working group partner Elias delivered. The scenario: in 2028 a leading American AI system refuses a sensitive request from a European government. Delegates take the roles of ministers from Germany, Poland, Sweden and Estonia and weigh budget, public support and time against each other. The exercise shows how limited the options are when the underlying technology is not European, and that AI sovereignty depends more on whether Europe can build these systems itself than on regulation.

AI sovereignty, security, disinformation, and infrastructure

I led the AI working group and drafted the three AI recommendations submitted to the CBSS Foreign Ministers under the Polish Presidency: recognise AI infrastructure and capabilities as strategically relevant for the Baltic Sea Region's long-term security, prosperity, and autonomy; use existing regional cooperation frameworks to support favourable conditions for AI innovation, investment, and secure and inclusive deployment; and promote transparency, knowledge-sharing, and inclusive participation, including young people, in AI governance approaches. The event was hosted by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, alongside a shadow-fleet security exercise and an energy-law conference at the University of Warsaw.

Working Plan 2026–2027, Strategy 2030 update, delegation input for the Tallinn programme

I co-authored the delegation report on the unanimous adoption of the BSSSC Working Plan 2026–2027, with six priorities, and on the launch of the Strategy 2030 review (Tallinn, Hamar, Brussels). I also proposed that our delegation hold a fixed seat on the May panels in Tallinn; the proposal was adopted unanimously.

Green transition, regional security

I joined a breakfast session at the European Parliament with MEP Niclas Herbst and then attended the BSSSC Board Meeting at the Hanse-Office.

AI and energy infrastructure

I facilitated the AI x Energy workshop for Nordic-Baltic delegates, representing BSRYF and CBSS. After asking delegates about their priorities, I shifted the focus from technical grid optimisation to AI as a question of sovereignty and security.

European AI sovereignty and digital infrastructure

At this five-day dialogue, hosted by CBSS and the German Embassy, I argued to Nordic-Baltic delegates that Europe imports its reasoning and builds its digital future on infrastructure it does not own, and made the case for European foundation models.

AI and cybersecurity readiness across the Nordic region

I represented CBSS and BSRYF and argued that talent pipelines only work when paired with structural investment in compute, energy and data-centre capacity, which credible AI defence against Russia-linked threats requires.

AI infrastructure, regional cooperation, liberty-first competitiveness

On the Day of Cities and Regions panel I questioned the speakers on Europe's tech paradox. I also ran CYR workshops that prototyped a European-scale venture capital fund, startup-friendly taxation and a data estate on the scale of Project Stargate.