Cohere VP: True AI Sovereignty Needs Full Stack Control

At VB Transform 2026 in Menlo Park, Cohere VP of Product Engineering Rachad Alao argued that enterprise AI sovereignty goes beyond running open models behind a firewall. Speaking with VentureBeat CEO Matt Marshall, Alao emphasized the need for complete control over data, infrastructure, and vendor flexibility. Alao, a former Google and Meta responsible AI leader, stressed that organizations in banking, healthcare, and government require tight control over where data resides and how AI systems operate. True sovereignty, he argued, demands ownership of the entire agentic stack.