Sergei Poltev: No Country Can Achieve Full Digital Sovereignty Without Cooperation With Others
The 2nd Global Digital Forum is taking place in Moscow, bringing together international experts and representatives of the IT industry. The event offers an opportunity to learn from other countries’ experience, discuss pressing technological challenges, and build professional connections.
Participants at the forum in Gorky Park are discussing digital sovereignty, IT development, and international cooperation. Sergei Poltev, an IT analyst, shared his views with the IT Russia media platform on how to balance technological independence with international cooperation.
– No forum today can avoid discussing artificial intelligence. The main issues are safety, the future applications of AI, and restrictions on its use across a wide range of fields. These are the two key priorities: advancing technology and ensuring its safe use.
Security has always been one of the main topics at major events, but it is particularly relevant today. It is important to establish common international principles for the responsible development of artificial intelligence. Several aspects are involved, including government regulation and efforts to reach agreements between countries. However, it remains unclear how feasible such agreements will prove to be and whether they can be enforced.
Beyond discussions about the future of artificial intelligence, including the prospects for developing artificial general intelligence, there are concrete technological challenges. These include shortages of data centers and electricity, as well as competition between countries. Another pressing issue is the development of large language models. Cooperation is needed in all these areas.
In my view, digital sovereignty and global cooperation do not conflict with each other; they complement each other. Countries are now competing to develop models and build data centers, while electricity supplies are in short supply. Agreements and technological tools can help address these challenges.
The open-source movement, which has been around for many years, is one example. Achieving full digital sovereignty without cooperation with other countries is extremely difficult. Russia has made significant progress, but building a comprehensive technology ecosystem requires equal partnerships with colleagues abroad.
It is important to build mutually beneficial partnerships, exchange experience and technologies, maintain a degree of autonomy, and use existing solutions wherever possible. This approach helps make more efficient use of resources and advance technology.
The organizers deserve recognition for putting on an event of this scale. But what matters most is not how the forum looks from the outside, but what happens afterward. Participants meet colleagues from different countries, discuss specific areas of work, and agree on further cooperation, including with educational institutions.
Many forums end with an impressive ceremony and a series of meetings, after which everyone goes home. What sets this forum apart is that it delivers concrete results. I personally managed to agree on practical steps that we will continue to work on. I hope many other participants found similar opportunities.
