On May 20, representatives from Canada and Spain shook hands — literally and figuratively — on an agreement to jointly bolster digital sovereignty. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Cuerpo, King Felipe VI of Spain and Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon joined Canadian tech companies Cohere and Coveo and Spanish-Canadian quantum-inspired powerhouse Multiverse Computing in the MaRS Discovery District to pledge their commitment to a shared framework to optimize AI infrastructure and deployment for both nations.Although the framework has clear logistical aims, it may carry even more weight as a symbolic statement, as Multiverse CTO Samuel Mugel points out. “Canada and Spain are in a good position to spearhead a more global agreement in terms of their alignment of democratic values and strategic goals,” he says, noting that both have emphasized the importance of sovereign access to AI. When it comes to what Mugel describes as the “winner-takes-all game” of information technology, neither country has pulled ahead, he says. So as Canada works to fortify its relationship with new trade partners and Spain celebrates robust economic growth, “it’s a great time to have these discussions and ask, ‘How do we become a world power, together?’”On a more concrete level, the collaboration between the three tech companies is a critical step toward building AI infrastructure on a scale that offers a credible alternative to the market’s dominant players, most of whom are based in China or the United States. By working with Canadian entities that have complementary strengths to address different aspects of the tech stack, Mugel feels Multiverse can be part of developing sovereign AI solutions that are legitimately competitive — and ethically sound. “You can’t talk about AI without talking about privacy, without talking about responsibility, without talking about governance,” he says. “And you can’t talk about capitalism without asking ‘What hits to our revenue are we willing to take to uphold our values?’”