@inproceedings{branco-etal-2026-sovereign,
title = "Sovereign {AI}-based Public Services Are Viable and Affordable",
author = "Branco, Ant{\'o}nio and
Gomes, Luis M. S. and
Santos, Rodrigo and
Santos, Eduardo and
Silva, Jo{\~a}o Ricardo and
Marques, Nuno and
Rodrigues, Madalena",
editor = "Piperidis, Stelios and
Bel, N{\'u}ria and
van den Heuvel, Henk and
Ide, Nancy and
Krek, Simon and
Toral, Antonio",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference",
month = may,
year = "2026",
address = "Palma de Mallorca, Spain",
publisher = "ELRA Language Resource Association",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.lrec-1.652/",
doi = "10.63317/2jrbcyao9v63",
pages = "8235--8245",
abstract = "The rapid expansion of AI-based remote services has intensified debates about the long-term implications of growing structural concentration in infrastructure and expertise. As AI capabilities become increasingly intertwined with geopolitical interests, the availability and reliability of foundational AI services can no longer be taken for granted. This issue is particularly pressing for AI-enabled public services for citizens, as governments and public agencies are progressively adopting 24/7 AI-driven support systems typically operated through commercial offerings from a small oligopoly of global technology providers. This paper challenges the prevailing assumption that general-purpose architectures, offered by these providers, are the optimal choice for all application contexts. Through practical experimentation, we demonstrate that viable and cost-effective alternatives exist{---}alternatives that align with principles of digital and cultural sovereignty. Our findings provide an empirical illustration that sovereign AI-based public services are both technically feasible and economically sustainable, capable of operating effectively on premises with modest computational and financial resources while maintaining cultural and digital autonomy. The technical insights and deployment lessons reported here are intended to inform the adoption of similar sovereign AI public services by national agencies and governments worldwide."
}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="branco-etal-2026-sovereign">
<titleInfo>
<title>Sovereign AI-based Public Services Are Viable and Affordable</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">António</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Branco</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Luis</namePart>
<namePart type="given">M</namePart>
<namePart type="given">S</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Gomes</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Rodrigo</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Santos</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Eduardo</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Santos</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">João</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Ricardo</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Silva</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Nuno</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Marques</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Madalena</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Rodrigues</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2026-05</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Stelios</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Piperidis</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Núria</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Bel</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Henk</namePart>
<namePart type="family">van den Heuvel</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Nancy</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Ide</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Simon</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Krek</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Antonio</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Toral</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>ELRA Language Resource Association</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">Palma de Mallorca, Spain</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>The rapid expansion of AI-based remote services has intensified debates about the long-term implications of growing structural concentration in infrastructure and expertise. As AI capabilities become increasingly intertwined with geopolitical interests, the availability and reliability of foundational AI services can no longer be taken for granted. This issue is particularly pressing for AI-enabled public services for citizens, as governments and public agencies are progressively adopting 24/7 AI-driven support systems typically operated through commercial offerings from a small oligopoly of global technology providers. This paper challenges the prevailing assumption that general-purpose architectures, offered by these providers, are the optimal choice for all application contexts. Through practical experimentation, we demonstrate that viable and cost-effective alternatives exist—alternatives that align with principles of digital and cultural sovereignty. Our findings provide an empirical illustration that sovereign AI-based public services are both technically feasible and economically sustainable, capable of operating effectively on premises with modest computational and financial resources while maintaining cultural and digital autonomy. The technical insights and deployment lessons reported here are intended to inform the adoption of similar sovereign AI public services by national agencies and governments worldwide.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">branco-etal-2026-sovereign</identifier>
<identifier type="doi">10.63317/2jrbcyao9v63</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2026.lrec-1.652/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2026-05</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>8235</start>
<end>8245</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Sovereign AI-based Public Services Are Viable and Affordable
%A Branco, António
%A Gomes, Luis M. S.
%A Santos, Rodrigo
%A Santos, Eduardo
%A Silva, João Ricardo
%A Marques, Nuno
%A Rodrigues, Madalena
%Y Piperidis, Stelios
%Y Bel, Núria
%Y van den Heuvel, Henk
%Y Ide, Nancy
%Y Krek, Simon
%Y Toral, Antonio
%S Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference
%D 2026
%8 May
%I ELRA Language Resource Association
%C Palma de Mallorca, Spain
%F branco-etal-2026-sovereign
%X The rapid expansion of AI-based remote services has intensified debates about the long-term implications of growing structural concentration in infrastructure and expertise. As AI capabilities become increasingly intertwined with geopolitical interests, the availability and reliability of foundational AI services can no longer be taken for granted. This issue is particularly pressing for AI-enabled public services for citizens, as governments and public agencies are progressively adopting 24/7 AI-driven support systems typically operated through commercial offerings from a small oligopoly of global technology providers. This paper challenges the prevailing assumption that general-purpose architectures, offered by these providers, are the optimal choice for all application contexts. Through practical experimentation, we demonstrate that viable and cost-effective alternatives exist—alternatives that align with principles of digital and cultural sovereignty. Our findings provide an empirical illustration that sovereign AI-based public services are both technically feasible and economically sustainable, capable of operating effectively on premises with modest computational and financial resources while maintaining cultural and digital autonomy. The technical insights and deployment lessons reported here are intended to inform the adoption of similar sovereign AI public services by national agencies and governments worldwide.
%R 10.63317/2jrbcyao9v63
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.lrec-1.652/
%U https://doi.org/10.63317/2jrbcyao9v63
%P 8235-8245
Markdown (Informal)
[Sovereign AI-based Public Services Are Viable and Affordable](https://aclanthology.org/2026.lrec-1.652/) (Branco et al., LREC 2026)
ACL
- António Branco, Luis M. S. Gomes, Rodrigo Santos, Eduardo Santos, João Ricardo Silva, Nuno Marques, and Madalena Rodrigues. 2026. Sovereign AI-based Public Services Are Viable and Affordable. In Proceedings of the Fifteenth Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, pages 8235–8245, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. ELRA Language Resource Association.