Governments around the world are no longer standing on the sidelines of artificial intelligence (AI) development—they’re building it. That’s the central message of a new white paper released by the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator (VPA), titled “The Global Rise of Public AI.” Authored by VPA Director Ganesh Sitaraman and policy analyst Karun Parek, the report charts the rapid expansion of government-led AI initiatives and categorizes the diverse approaches countries are taking to shape the future of the technology.
Released in May 2025, the paper outlines how public investments, strategic partnerships, and state-operated AI resources are becoming defining features of national AI strategies across nine countries and regions: the United States, China, United Kingdom, European Union, India, Japan, Canada, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. The authors argue that these government-led efforts represent a sharp break from decades of market-driven digital development.
The paper categorizes public AI strategies into four models: Outsourced Provision, where governments contract private companies for AI infrastructure and tools; Networked Collaboration, which connects universities and nonprofits to build public research capacity; State-Corporate Fusion, where governments wield direct influence over national tech companies; and Public Options, in which governments directly create and operate AI models or platforms to serve the public.
Each approach comes with tradeoffs. Outsourced models may entrench tech monopolies and weaken long-term government capacity. State-corporate fusion, prominent in China and the UAE, raises concerns about blurred lines between private profit and public interest. Public options, such as Japan’s ABCI or the U.S. AuroraGPT, require significant investment but promise greater transparency, competition, and inclusion.
Importantly, the authors highlight that these public AI efforts are not just about technological development—they are strategic decisions that influence geopolitical standing, national security, and economic inequality. Governments are not only concerned with keeping pace in the AI race, but with who owns the tools, sets the rules, and reaps the benefits.
The paper emerges from a conference co-hosted by VPA, the Mozilla Foundation, and the Economic Security Project, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. It is the latest in a series of VPA publications on AI governance and public options, urging policymakers to think critically about the infrastructure decisions that will shape the next generation of artificial intelligence.
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