The Global South’s AI moment has arrived: Time to build, not borrow why the global south must own Its AI future

By Sunita Mohanty, MD, Primus Partners  & Co-author: Sejal Mathur, AVP, Primus Partners     

The Snowden revelations showed how data from many countries could be accessed, stored, and
analysed under foreign laws, simply because the digital infrastructure did not belong to them. Emails,
photos, government records, and even sensitive national information travelled across borders without
consent or control.
At the time, this was framed as a surveillance issue. It was something bigger: a warning about digital
dependence.

More than a decade later, the risk has multiplied with Artificial Intelligence.
Today, governments across the Global South rely on imported cloud infrastructure, foreign AI models,
and external digital platforms to run health systems, welfare schemes, education, finance, and public
services. Algorithms trained elsewhere are being adapted locally – often without understanding local
languages, contexts, or realities.
This is no longer just a technology choice.
It is a question of sovereignty, resilience ...