Switzerland Leads Global Push for Democratically Controlled AI, Offering Alternative to Big Tech
GENEVA, November 25, 2025 – A growing international movement is challenging the dominance of for-profit AI development with publicly owned and democratically controlled alternatives, and Switzerland is leading the charge. The release of “Apertus,” the world’s most powerful fully realized public AI model, developed jointly by the Swiss government and ETH Zurich, marks a significant step toward ensuring AI benefits public good rather than corporate profits.
Concerns are mounting over the risks of relying on proprietary AI systems in democratic contexts, where clarity and accountability are paramount. Unlike commercially driven models, Apertus is entirely open source – encompassing open data, code, and weights – and freely available for use. Its training data excludes illegally acquired copyrighted material and avoids exploitative labor practices.
the development of public AI is gaining traction worldwide, with advocates highlighting four key areas where AI can actively strengthen democracies:
- Citizen Oversight: Empowering citizen watchdogs and litigators with AI tools to enhance government oversight and accountability.
- Voter Engagement: Enabling political parties and election administrators to use AI for meaningful voter engagement and information dissemination.
- Democratic Alternatives: Providing governments with alternatives to AI offerings from large technology corporations.
- public AI Development: Investing in and deploying models like Apertus, demonstrating that powerful AI doesn’t require trillions of dollars in investment.
Apertus’s performance currently matches that of major corporate AI models from approximately one year ago, proving sufficient for numerous applications. This demonstrates a viable path toward democratizing access to advanced AI technology and mitigating the risks associated with concentrated corporate control.
“AI is inherently power-enhancing, and it can magnify what the humans behind it want to do,” the authors of a recent Guardian essay on the topic noted. “It can enhance authoritarianism as easily as it can enhance democracy.It’s up to us to steer the technology in that better direction.”
