Telefónica Tech UK&I Supports Britain’s Sovereign AI Future Through New Cosine Collaboration

Artificial intelligence is transforming how organisations operate, from improving decision making and automating processes to supporting critical services. However, for organisations working with sensitive data, questions around security, governance and control are becoming increasingly important.

This is where sovereign AI comes into focus.

Sovereign AI refers to artificial intelligence that is developed, governed and operated within a country’s jurisdiction. In the UK, sovereign AI enables organisations to maintain control over data, infrastructure and governance while meeting regulatory and security requirements.

As demand for sovereign AI continues to grow across healthcare, policing, defence, financial services and legal sectors, Telefónica Tech UK&I is supporting the future of sovereign AI through a new collaboration with Cosine.

Cosine is developing Britain’s first sovereign frontier AI model with support from the UK Government. Through this collaboration, Telefónica Tech UK&I will contribute expertise in governance, security and customer use cases to help shape a sovereign AI model designed around UK requirements.

Why Sovereign AI Matters

Many of the leading AI models available today have been developed outside the UK and trained using data sourced from around the world. While these models can deliver significant value for general business use, organisations operating in regulated industries often face additional requirements around data sovereignty, compliance, security and operational control.

For sectors such as policing, healthcare, defence, financial services and legal services, understanding where data is processed, who governs the technology and how AI systems are controlled is essential.

Sovereign AI addresses these challenges by ensuring AI capabilities are developed and governed in line with UK requirements. This provides greater confidence around security, compliance and resilience while reducing reliance on foreign infrastructure.

As AI becomes increasingly embedded within critical services, sovereign AI is expected to play an important role in supporting trusted and secure adoption across the UK.

Supporting the Development of Britain’s Sovereign AI Capability

As part of the collaboration, Telefónica Tech UK&I will help define priority use cases, governance requirements and security standards that support the needs of UK organisations.

This creates an opportunity to ensure the model reflects real operational requirements from sectors where security, trust and compliance are essential.

The collaboration also provides a route for customer requirements and industry specific challenges to influence the development of the model. By working closely with customers across regulated sectors, Telefónica Tech UK&I can help ensure future sovereign AI capabilities are aligned to real world needs.

As a trusted technology partner to organisations across the public and private sectors, Telefónica Tech UK&I is uniquely positioned to bring practical experience into the development of the model. This includes identifying high value use cases, advising on governance requirements and helping ensure the model supports the challenges faced by organisations operating in highly regulated environments.

Sovereign AI Use Cases Across Regulated Industries

One of the key advantages of sovereign AI is its ability to support advanced AI capabilities in environments where security and data protection requirements are paramount.

Organisations in some sectors cannot move sensitive information into public cloud environments. Sovereign AI provides a route to adopt artificial intelligence while maintaining control over critical data and infrastructure.

Sovereign AI for Policing

Police forces manage vast amounts of operational and investigative information. Sovereign AI can support intelligence analysis, safeguarding assessments, digital investigations and operational decision making while ensuring sensitive information remains within secure UK environments.

Examples include supporting Clare’s Law processes, predictive policing, analysing intelligence records, identifying safeguarding risks and helping officers access critical information more efficiently.

Sovereign AI for Healthcare

Healthcare providers face increasing pressure to improve patient outcomes while managing growing demand.

Sovereign AI can support clinical coding recommendations, service demand forecasting, patient pathway optimisation and diagnostic decision support. These capabilities can help improve efficiency and decision making while maintaining strict controls around patient data.

Sovereign AI for Financial Services

Financial institutions operate under stringent regulatory requirements and manage highly sensitive customer information.

Sovereign AI can support fraud detection, financial crime prevention, complaints handling, regulatory compliance and risk modelling. By maintaining control over governance and infrastructure, organisations can adopt AI while supporting regulatory obligations and customer trust.

Sovereign AI for Legal Services

Legal professionals work with large volumes of confidential documents and complex information.

Sovereign AI can assist with legal research, contract analysis, document review and litigation preparation. These capabilities can reduce administrative effort while maintaining confidentiality and governance standards.

Sovereign AI for Defence

Defence organisations often require technology that can operate within highly secure environments where information cannot leave protected networks.

Sovereign AI can support intelligence analysis, digital forensics, operational planning and mission support. These capabilities become even more valuable when deployed within secure environments that require complete control over infrastructure and data.

Sovereign AI in Air Gapped Environments

A significant challenge for many regulated industries is the ability to deploy advanced AI capabilities within environments that are disconnected from external networks.

Police forces, defence organisations and operators of critical national infrastructure often require systems that can function without access to public cloud services.

Sovereign AI makes this possible.

Combined with secure on premises AI infrastructure, sovereign AI can provide access to advanced generative AI capabilities within tightly controlled environments while maintaining complete control over sensitive information.

This creates new opportunities for organisations that have previously been unable to adopt AI because of security or compliance requirements.

Check out our AI Use Case Catalogue for more examples. View the catalogue →

The Future of Sovereign AI in the UK

The collaboration extends beyond sovereign AI. Cosine is also developing specialist capabilities focused on coding and cyber security, creating future opportunities to support secure software development and advanced cyber services for regulated industries.

As demand for trusted AI continues to grow, sovereign AI will play an important role in helping organisations adopt artificial intelligence while maintaining control over data, governance and security.

Telefónica Tech UK&I is proud to contribute to this important step forward for sovereign AI in the UK and looks forward to helping shape the future of trusted AI for regulated industries.

Organisations interested in exploring sovereign AI and understanding how it could support their own regulatory, operational and security requirements can contact Telefónica Tech UK&I to discuss potential use cases and future opportunities.