Microsoft AI chief says sovereignty can narrow the access gap

Microsoft’s chief responsible AI officer Natasha Crampton warned that the gap in AI adoption between the Global North and Global South risks widening unless access, governance and local capacity are addressed together. Speaking at the UN AI for Good Summit in Geneva, she framed AI sovereignty as a way to prioritize local cultures, values and norms while still using global technologies, rather than rejecting outside systems.

Crampton pointed to multilingual projects such as Lingua and LINGUA Africa, a collaboration involving Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab, the Gates Foundation, Google.org and the Masakhane African Languages Hub, as models for giving communities more control over AI systems. The effort focuses on local-language data, idiomatic phrasing and cultural context so foundational models better reflect underserved communities.

She also emphasized international coordination on safety and governance, including UN mechanisms and the “digital emblem” project with Microsoft, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Telecommunications Union to protect hospitals and aid workers from cyberattacks. On infrastructure, Crampton said Microsoft is pursuing community-first commitments for data centres, including support for local tax bases, limits on electricity and water impacts, and closed-loop cooling systems.

In Europe, she praised the European AI Office’s engagement with AI safety and testing counterparts in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Regulators, she said, need flexibility as AI testing science evolves and as rules catch up with public expectations and technical change.