A Public Good That Cannot Speak Your Language - Cognitive Sovereignty: Beyond the Fine Print

Dr Kenechukwu Ikebuaku

Gabriela Ramos and Emilija Stojmenova Duh make an important advance by shifting the debate from data centres and procurement contracts to the citizen. Their provocation rightly argues that sovereignty is about preserving democratic agency, not merely controlling infrastructure. I agree with the diagnosis, and the remedies they propose are necessary. Yet there is a deeper layer, largely invisible in current debates, that lies beneath the fine print and beyond the ownership of infrastructure. I extend the concept of cognitive sovereignty to AI governance, defining it as the capacity of a society to ensure that the intelligence governing its public life can understand its languages, reflect its knowledge, and remain subject to its own human judgment.