Updated March 20, 2025

My Mission

My work and research are specialized in Sovereign AI & Sovereign AI Finance—helping countries build and govern advanced artificial intelligence on their own terms through geoeconomic strategy, AI governance frameworks, and dedicated AI-focused sovereign wealth funds. With over a decade in the AI field as a professor and entrepreneur, I empower organizations and individuals to work with advanced technology through practical knowledge, tools, and frameworks.

Harvard Kennedy School of Government - Sovereign AI & Sovereign Wealth Funds 

In 2025, I was accepted to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government based on my work and research on this topic and my desire to bring it to reality for all nations that wish to chart their own path with artificial intelligence. I have an anticipated completion date for 2027.

The Challenge

Advanced and frontier AI systems are reshaping the world we live in at an ever-increasing rate of change. Access to advanced augmented intelligence (humans + AI) will be the defining factor for regions, nations, companies, and most importantly, people to thrive in the era of advanced AI.

Nations lacking a Sovereign AI strategy are at risk of countless problems over the short and long term horizons. I've identified some of the most critical problems facing nations today throughout the Global South (excluding China) and other nations lacking a robust AI ecosystem:

• Value Drain: Wealth transfers from the Global South to dominant AI powers

• Widening Gaps: Growing competitive disparities nationally and domestically

• Biased Systems: Non-representative AI models producing severely biased outcomes and eroding national identities

• Strategic Vulnerability: Increased geopolitical weakness and reduced autonomy

• Limited Recourse: Non-existent redress mechanisms

• High Barriers: Advanced & Frontier AI development remains prohibitively expensive

There is also a very steep funding challenge for private players and governments to enter the AI ecosystem in a meaningful way. Governments increasingly understand the need to develop Sovereign AI systems. Still, throughout my research, engagements, and work, no one has addressed the most critical elements of long-term AI deployment that are sustainable, competitive, and reliable for domestic companies, universities, and individuals to build on. Without perpetual funding to ensure that Sovereign AI initiatives would be consistently invested across key verticals, even the best laid plans will not create lasting, meaningful, or measurable improvements for the society they are meant to serve.

My Research, Approach & Solution

My research examines several components: 

• Development of adapted Sovereign AI strategies for individual nations. 

• Structuring and mandates of an AI SWF 

• Seeding an AI sovereign wealth fund with an initial investment by drawing on central bank foreign reserves, natural resource profits, and advanced hybrid models suited to challenging funding environments

• Structuring an AI use tax for ongoing regular funding. 

The purpose of the AI fund is not to invest only in AI projects or companies; instead, the AI SWF would pursue traditional portfolio strategies that allowed it to achieve alpha returns in the markets with a mandate to preserve the contributed capital. Only the returns from the AI fund should be used to invest in the domestic AI infrastructure, support AI-related initiatives for education, fund the development of the AI ecosystem (startups, business, etc.), invest in major AI firms globally, and make access to AI resources a human right for citizens. This two-stage approach avoids overexposure and risk stemming from the AI industry's ups and downs. 

A portion of the fund’s returns should be distributed to citizens of the country every year, with a careful eye on the inflationary impacts. This distribution of returns allows for citizens across all industries and socioeconomic levels of society to share in the benefits of AI advancements. 

What is Sovereign AI?

Sovereign AI is a nation's ability to develop, deploy, and govern AI systems aligned with its:

• Languages and legal frameworks

• Cultural values

• Military and national security needs

• Economic priorities

It encompasses the technical infrastructure (digital and physical), policy frameworks, and institutional capabilities necessary for countries to control their AI futures rather than depend on foreign systems.

When applied to each nation, the structure and focus on Sovereign AI is not one size fits all. My research develops frameworks that government leaders and society can use when defining the correct approach and development of Sovereign AI for their country across: environmental impact, constitutional requirements, energy costs, physical infrastructure tailored to the current and future goals of the country, and numerous other elements that I’ve been working on to make Sovereign AI attainable and customized at every step. 

What is a Sovereign Wealth Fund?

A sovereign wealth fund is a state-owned investment fund that accumulates, manages, and deploys national capital to advance long-term objectives. It serves four core functions:

• Stabilization: smoothing fiscal and commodity cycles

• Intergenerational savings: preserving wealth for future citizens

• Strategic development: financing national priorities and infrastructure

• Diversification: reducing reliance on a single revenue source

A credible SWF combines a durable capital base (reserves, resource revenues, or fiscal surpluses) with independent governance and professional asset management to compound wealth and align capital with national objectives while strengthening strategic autonomy.

The Vision: Sustainable National Capability for Sovereign AI

My objective is to create a policy and framework that:

• Withstands market pressure

• Translates strategy into long-term infrastructure and skills through capital programs

• Widens opportunity by aligning with local contexts

• Allows for all citizens to benefit from the advancement of advanced and frontier AI from multiple sources. 

Sovereign AI and Sovereign AI Finance, focused on SWFs, are field-building work at the intersection of technology, finance, and statecraft, designed to set the agenda for years to come.

Why This Matters

AI Sovereignty is fundamentally about equity, autonomy, and national competitiveness. A country's ability to build and govern its own AI systems will increasingly determine:

• Access to economic opportunity

• Societal stability

• The integrity of democratic institutions

AI capacity shapes governance, risk, compliance, and value creation. Strong institutions reduce exposure to vendor lock-in and policy shocks, align model use with national rules, and improve auditability and safety. Clear accountability and funding discipline enable durable access to compute, talent, and data, while transparent reporting builds public trust and supports long-term economic returns.

Without sovereign infrastructure and investment, many nations and their communities will remain invisible to the intelligence systems shaping tomorrow's world.

This work has profound implications for public governance, risk management, cross-border compliance, and long-term enterprise value creation—all fundamental to economic, national, and global competitiveness. Through broad applications of Sovereign AI, we can offer everyone the life they've dreamed of for themselves and their families, giving everyone a fair shot at the future they deserve.

Framework Development 

I’ve been working on the applied frameworks to bring this Sovereign AI that is structured thoughtfully and funded sustainably with dedicated AI sovereign wealth funds as outlined above since late 2023. This work builds on an initiative, BillofRights.ai, which I developed in November 2021 to help define the rights of citizens and the technical requirements for AI models to implement those rights. 

In early 2024, I began publishing my ideas and work surrounding Sovereign AI and dedicated AI Sovereign Wealth Funds in publications like Business Insider Mexico, Fast Company Mexico, and Forbes Mexico, to raise public awareness and gauge interest in government, academia, and business. These publications have shared the frameworks that connect public finance to compute, models, energy, data stewardship, and talent development over decades.

This work has also been shared with my colleagues and graduate students at the EGADE Business School, where I’ve been a Professor of Practice in Applied Artificial Intelligence since 2023. Every year, I teach hundreds of students about the applications, limitations, and challenges of AI models that don’t reflect populations in the Global South through my Applied AI Ethics & Governance course, which I designed and was the first of its kind for any graduate business school in Mexico or Latin America.

My ongoing research on the topic will also be published later this year, in 2025. 

Founding the Field of Sovereign AI Finance - Sovereign AI & Sovereign Wealth Funds

My research represents the first comprehensive framework linking the development of dedicated AI sovereign wealth funds to sovereign AI development. I am pioneering the field of Sovereign AI Finance; the first systematic approach to connecting sovereign wealth architecture with national AI capabilities for all nations, but especially those in the Global South, to develop Sovereign AI strategies that are sustainable over the long term. 

I’ve worked as a Special Advisor to the President at the National Banking and Securities Commission of Mexico, advised numerous elected bodies, and other government bodies from North America, Europe, and other regions on the best practices for developing AI with citizens at the center of the technology. 

Connect

For research collaborations, speaking engagements on Sovereign AI, Sovereign Wealth Fund AI Finance, or to learn more about this emerging field, contact me here.