Cohere AI Chief: US and China Will 'Hold Us by the Throat' Without Local Capabilities

Joëlle Pineau, chief AI officer at Canadian startup Cohere, stated that smaller players outside the US and China must join forces to create credible alternatives to the dominant AI model makers. She warned that these countries could "hold us by the throat" if local AI capabilities are not developed.

Pineauss comments follow Cohere's recent official merger agreement with German AI startup Aleph Alpha, a move framed as a win for digital sovereignty aimed at strengthening the European AI sector.

"We have to find our own strengths and join forces. If we can't create sufficiently large and capable models, we will become completely dependent on others," Pineau said in an interview.

She noted that China and the US are already advanced in AI development, and competition is fierce. "We must ensure we have our own space and ability to develop in this competition," Pineau added.