World leaders want American AI. They just don’t want America to be able to turn it off.
French President Macron and Indian PM Modi raised alarms at the G7 summit that the U.S. could cut off access to American AI overnight — a fear the Anthropic blackout just made real.
At the G7 Summit on Wednesday, world leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced concerns that the U.S. could cut off their countries’ access to top American AI models at any time.
Macron warned G7 leaders and top AI executives — including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and President Donald Trump — over lunch that if the U.S. “from one day to the next can turn off the switch,” it could not only harm the economies of European customers but also damage the AI firms themselves.
The comments come a few days after the Trump administration blocked Anthropic from exporting its newest Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models on national security grounds. The order came after Amazon flagged to the White House that certain safety guardrails could be bypassed. Even though cybersecurity experts have argued that the capabilities cited by the government are also present in models that remain freely available, including from OpenAI, Anthropic’s models are still on ice.
The episode has exposed a risk that many international companies have been grappling with : Any company or government that builds on U.S. AI infrastructure now has to reckon with the possibility that access can be revoked overnight, for reasons they may never be told.
Prime Minister Modi also said he was concerned about Trump’s move to block Anthropic’s model, according to reporting from Financial Times , adding that democratic nations must have unfettered access to top AI models to protect critical infrastructure.
“The recent restriction on access to Anthropic’s models confirms what we at Cohere have known all along: that companies and democratic nations remaining dependent on a small handful of big tech companies is dangerous to resilience,” Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Canadian enterprise AI firm Cohere, said in a statement shared with TechCrunch. “Digital sovereignty is not just about market competition or any one company or nation. It’s about who controls the foundational technology that will shape our economic security and national sovereignty for decades to come.”
During the meeting, G7 leaders also discussed the creation of a “trusted partners” scheme that would grant access for non-U.S. nations to advanced AI models from firms like Anthropic and OpenAI. The goal is to maintain a sort of open trade network that bypasses U.S. restrictions. Both countries and companies could be trusted partners, as long as they used the models to develop stronger defenses against rivals like China.
But it’s not clear how far that trusted partner scheme would extend, or whether it’s an answer for a startup in Paris or Bangalore that just had its product break without warning.
Regardless, Macron noted that it would make sense for Washington to back such a scheme and to ensure Mythos access was granted more broadly. Nobody would want to buy U.S. AI access if it could disappear overnight.
The comments were made even as Europe and other non-U.S. countries attempt to push for AI sovereignty — an increasingly difficult case to make when American models keep pulling ahead and nobody wants to be left out.
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Rebecca Bellan is a senior reporter at TechCrunch where she covers the business, policy, and emerging trends shaping artificial intelligence. Her work has also appeared in Forbes, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, The Daily Beast, and other publications.
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Key takeaways
- Dependence on U.S. AI infrastructure poses a risk to Brazil's digital sovereignty.
- Creating international partnerships could provide Brazil access to advanced technologies without the vulnerability of U.S. unilateral policies.
- The Anthropic episode highlights the need for an internal debate on AI policy and the building of local infrastructure.
Editorial analysis
The concerns expressed by world leaders like Macron and Modi reflect a growing dilemma in the global artificial intelligence landscape: the dependence of nations on U.S. AI infrastructure. For the Brazilian tech sector, this serves as a warning about the need for diversification and the development of local solutions. Brazil, already facing challenges in terms of technological innovation, should consider building its own AI infrastructure to avoid vulnerability to external political decisions that could impact access to critical technologies.
Moreover, the proposal for a 'trusted partners' scheme among G7 nations indicates an attempt to create a more resilient ecosystem. For Brazil, this could mean opportunities for collaboration with other countries seeking alternatives to American technology dependence. Forming strategic alliances with nations that share similar concerns could be a viable path to ensure access to advanced technologies without the risks associated with unilateral policies.
The episode involving Anthropic also raises questions about governance and regulation of AI in a global context. As more countries become aware of the importance of digital sovereignty, Brazil should engage in international discussions on how to ensure equitable and secure access to emerging technologies. Active participation in global forums and initiatives can help Brazil shape a future where technology is not just an extension of economic power but also a tool for autonomy and national security.
Finally, the current scenario highlights the urgency of an internal debate on AI policy in Brazil. The country needs not only to keep up with global trends but also to establish a clear vision of how it wants to position itself in the AI ecosystem. This includes investing in research and development, fostering local startups, and creating a regulatory environment that encourages innovation while protecting national interests.
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