AIF Insights No. 25 (2026) | Digital Sovereignty in the Age of AI: What Choices for Cambodia ?

This examines how small states can navigate digital sovereignty within an AI landscape dominated by major powers like the United States and China. Rather than passively adopting foreign technologies or unrealistically striving for full technical independence, the author argues that small nations must deliberately choose their dependencies and exercise agency where feasible. Specifically for Cambodia, this involves taking active ownership of accessible layers such as local data and language representation, leveraging regional alliances like ASEAN to gain collective bargaining power against tech monopolists, and embedding strict oversight, audit, and localization conditions into public procurement contracts to cultivate internal technical competence. Ultimately, the paper concludes that digital sovereignty in the AI era is defined not by total control, but by deliberate choices, active practice, and strategic regional cooperation.