At VB Transform 2026, a Cohere executive argued that enterprise AI sovereignty—the ability to control sensitive systems without vendor lock-in—requires organizations to manage not just the AI model but the entire agent infrastructure.
For mission-critical applications in banking, healthcare, and government, simply downloading an open-source model or running it behind a firewall is insufficient; companies need end-to-end control over where data resides and the freedom to change vendors.
What happened
Rachad Alao, vice president of product engineering at Canadian AI startup Cohere, spoke at VB Transform 2026 in Menlo Park about building AI agent systems while keeping sensitive data and infrastructure under enterprise control. Alao, who previously led responsible AI teams at Google and Meta, argued that AI sovereignty requires more than just running an open model behind a corporate firewall.
Why it matters
Banks, hospitals, and governments operating mission-critical systems need tight control over where their data resides and the ability to switch vendors without being locked into a single AI provider. For enterprises handling sensitive information, partial measures—downloading a model or using a firewall—are insufficient; true sovereignty demands control over the entire AI agent stack.
What to watch
The talk reflects growing concern among large organizations that relying on third-party AI infrastructure and vendors could expose proprietary operations or create dependency. Cohere's emphasis on full-stack control suggests the startup is positioning itself to serve enterprises unwilling to cede operational autonomy to larger cloud or AI vendors.
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The talk at VB Transform 2026 reflects a tension shaping enterprise AI adoption: the desire for advanced AI capabilities versus the need to retain operational control. Alao's framing—that sovereignty means more than simply deploying an open model behind a firewall—suggests that many organizations have realized that outsourcing AI infrastructure to a single vendor creates risk. Banks, hospitals, and government agencies handle data and processes too sensitive to trust to vendor-controlled systems, where terms of service, security incidents, or business decisions at the vendor could undermine the enterprise's autonomy. By emphasizing full-stack control, Cohere positions itself in a market segment concerned not just with model quality but with independence: the ability to switch providers, audit operations, and ensure data never leaves controlled environments. This message resonates particularly with large, regulated organizations where loss of control carries legal and operational consequences.
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