Europe is working intensively to strengthen its independence in the global competition for trustworthy and sovereign AI technologies. In a recent article, WIRED magazine highlights the strategic importance of European AI research and quotes Prof. Dr Wolfgang Nejdl, Director of the L3S Research Center, on the need for a strong and autonomous European AI infrastructure.
Digital sovereignty as a key challenge
While US technology companies currently dominate large parts of the AI value chain, European research institutions and laboratories are increasingly pursuing open and collaborative approaches to developing their own AI models. These initiatives aim to reduce Europe’s dependence on external providers and to strengthen digital sovereignty.
In the WIRED article, Prof. Nejdl emphasises that European research groups could gain a significant advantage over closed systems developed by major tech companies through the open development and publication of AI models. Referring to collaborative AI development, he notes: “You are multiplying the power of these models.” His engagement is closely linked to the soofi project, in which L3S is actively involved.
Soofi: A European approach to trustworthy AI
Soofi (Sovereign Open Source Foundation Models) aims to develop a large, open language model with around 100 billion parameters that aligns with European values and regulatory requirements. The model is intended to serve as a foundation for trustworthy AI applications across a range of domains.
Together with partner institutions such as Fraunhofer IAIS, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), the University of Würzburg and other research organisations, L3S is helping to strengthen Europe’s AI research and infrastructure through soofi.
The WIRED article highlights that Europe’s particular strengths lie in research excellence, interdisciplinary networks and strong public institutions. Prof. Nejdl underlines that projects like soofi demonstrate how European actors can jointly develop powerful alternatives to proprietary AI systems from the United States or China.
A global perspective
The article places these developments in a broader geopolitical context. Against the backdrop of the dominant position of major US technology companies, the question of an independent European AI strategy is becoming increasingly urgent. Through initiatives such as soofi and the commitment of research institutions like L3S, Europe is making an important contribution to strengthening digital sovereignty and technological diversity.
Read the full article in WIRED.
