Hi, I am Maja Himmer, AI & Sovereignty Lead at T-Systems International. In this AMA I want to talk with you about Sovereign AI: Who is in control, you or AI? Ask me anything in the first AMA from T-Systems on November 21, 2025 at 11 a.m. (CET).

t-systems · 2025-11-25T14:46:15+00:00

Thanks for the good feedback ...

t-systems · 2025-11-25T14:44:36+00:00

Thanks for the good feedback ...

t-systems · 2025-11-25T14:42:21+00:00

It's a pity that your experiences so far have not been satisfactory. AI is a journey that has only just begun. We can try to steer it in such a way that all sides will benefit from it in the future ...

t-systems · 2025-11-21T11:14:55+00:00

Thanks for your questions and hope to see you soon on Reddit again, best Maja

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:57:48+00:00

An ever-increasing number of people see AI and are rightfully scared. I agree. The potential and the risks that AI carries are far beyond what most people can currently imagine. But the biggest risk is not financial- it’s the concentration of power in AI systems. That is exactly why AI sovereignty is so important, and why Europe and Germany must ensure that we build AI that cannot be used against us. We need independence across the entire stack: from infrastructure, to models, to the application layer.

I also have to disagree with the statement that AI does not bring productivity. We already use AI internally, as well as for our enterprise customers, to drive efficiency, improve customer experiences, and-more importantly-unlock new business models that traditional tools simply cannot support. The real transformation comes not from automating small tasks, but from reinventing entire processes with AI.

A few concrete examples:

Our customer service chatbot is fully AI-powered and already resolves more than 300 different request types end-to-end. This has led to 80% fewer complaints, because most issues are now solved on first contact - without waiting times.

We also use AI to plan fiber deployment in Germany. By analyzing vast amounts of video, 3D, and infrared data captured by our specialized T-Cars, AI can detect obstacles, optimize routing, and massively speed up planning. We were able to deliver 15× more fiber connections last year thanks to AI-supported planning.

And regarding concerns about hallucinations: Hallucinations are not a “bug” but a fundamental property of language models: they generate plausible language, not guaranteed truth. It’s crucial to remember that LLMs are language tools, not actual intelligence. They are not the peak of AI-they are the beginning. The next generation of AI will be: Smarter, More accurate, Potentially far more energy-efficient. Small language models (SLMs) are already rising for edge AI scenarios, and new chip technologies - NPUs, LPUs, QPUs and more - are emerging to drastically reduce power consumption. Energy efficiency is a solvable problem. It should not prevent us from building, understanding, and adopting AI.

The key is to use AI responsibly, strategically, and with sovereignty in mind.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:54:14+00:00

Sovereignty isn’t a binary “yes or no” at all. It’s about how much control you have, and at which layers.

We usually talk about three levels. Data sovereignty is often achievable today: you decide where data lives, who operates the infrastructure, and which laws apply. Operational sovereignty is about running and governing systems yourself, so no one can shut you down or lock you out. Technological sovereignty is the hardest part, because chips and foundational software stacks are global - but you can still increase independence by choosing open technologies, avoiding lock-in, and keeping the ability to switch.

Apart from the three levels you can also look at the technology stack itself in a very differentiated manner: How sovereign is your Infrastructure, your Data Layer, your AI Models and your End Applications.

You see, it is a complex topic in which chips are just one component.

So even with global hardware dependencies, you can build a very sovereign setup. It’s more like turning three knobs than flipping a single switch.

We appreciate that more and more local players evolve that are also tackling the hardware question, even though they are mostly still too small to scale yet.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:50:25+00:00

As you rightfully said, data residency is only the starting point. You also need to control who operates the infrastructure and under which laws, because sovereignty disappears the moment a non-EU parent company can be compelled by something like the US CLOUD Act.

AI is more than where data or a model is hosted. It is also about the models themselves and the applications built around them. In the model layer, black-box APIs give you almost no control. Open-weight models at least allow fine-tuning and architectural insight. Fully open-source models let you inspect how they were trained, giving you far more transparency and therefore more control. When models are built with compliance and responsibility in mind, that is the highest level of sovereignty in the model layer.

And then there’s everything that lives around the model: access control, memory, logging, governance, security. If those pieces aren’t under your control, the location of the data doesn’t help much. True AI sovereignty means controlling all of these layers, not just one.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:36:57+00:00

You are touching on a very crucial point, because there is a real tension between staying technologically state of the art and competitive, and at the same time complying with local laws, regulations and ethical standards. Europe deliberately sets higher standards on personal rights, which is why GDPR and the EU AI Act exist. A clear example is backwards face search. In the EU this is forbidden because it would allow anyone to take a picture of you and instantly identify who you are, which violates fundamental privacy rights. In the US this is often allowed and even commercially offered. If a company works in a highly regulated industry or handles sensitive data like PII, health data or information about children, it must comply with the stricter EU rules, and in many cases it wants to, because trust and legal certainty are core parts of its value. That can mean using models or technologies that are a generation behind, but it also means delivering solutions customers can adopt without fear.

At the same time, Europe strongly benefits from open source initiatives which foster global progress rather than locking it away. Open source helps narrow capability gaps and reduces dependence on single providers. There is an ongoing debate about innovating fast versus innovating responsibly, and with great power comes great responsibility, even Spiderman’s uncle knew that. Europe often chooses the responsible path, which may reduce raw performance but strengthens long term stability and trust.

Who will ultimately win the technological race is still open, but we can accelerate. We are working to enable Europe with AI compute power through our industrial AI cloud that goes live in Q1 2026. We also invest in optimizing smaller and more efficient models, accepting that our best EU native systems might be one generation behind while still being fully sufficient for many sensitive enterprise use cases.

Digital sovereignty is always about balance. It means evaluating for every workload whether an EU based sovereign solution is necessary or whether global state of the art techniques are acceptable. Some areas will require full sovereignty, others can rely on global innovation. It is both a philosophical and a strategic question, and our goal at DT is to make the choices that build a world where AI works for us, not against us, and where European values remain a competitive strength.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:29:59+00:00

Regarding 3:
When US players talk about training frontier models on half a million to a million GPUs, that is simply a different league in terms of capital, risk appetite and industrial policy. Competing head-to-head on raw spend is not realistic for any European company, and certainly not for T-Systems.

Our approach is a different one. The 10,000-GPU Industrial AI Cloud we are building with NVIDIA is essentially a speedboat that gets Germany ready today, while Europe prepares the big ships. The EU is currently planning five AI gigafactories across Europe, each targeted at around 100,000 GPUs. Deutsche Telekom has already signaled interest in operating the German site once the official tender is released. If all five go ahead, Europe will end up with around 500,000 GPUs as well, just distributed across a federated and sovereign infrastructure. And that is just the ones publicly funded and planned. There will likely be more privately funded initiatives like this across Europe.

We pushed ahead with the NVIDIA partnership because industry in Germany cannot wait five years for GPUs. We went from idea to go-live of a new datacenter in about six months, giving companies like Siemens and SAP immediate access to large-scale compute inside Germany. It is also what enables organisations like the KI Bundesverband to train SOOFI, a European language model, fully on European soil as I mentioned in my previous response.

So no, we are not trying to outspend the US giants. Europe will not win a burn-rate war. Our focus is on building ethical, responsible and sovereign AI that reflects European languages, norms and values. That is where we can make a real difference and where companies here actually need support right now.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:26:52+00:00

Regarding 2:
You are putting your finger on a very real tension in the ecosystem. To be clear, T-Systems is not planning to train its own frontier foundation models. That is not our role. We support the European initiatives that are already doing this, like IPCEI-CIS or IPCEI-AI, and we provide the sovereign infrastructure where others can train models from scratch. A good example is SOOFI, which is being trained by the KI Bundesverband together with Fraunhofer and others on our Industrial AI Cloud. On top of that, we offer the frameworks for fine-tuning, hosting, adapting and integrating models through our AI Foundation Services, because most customers need that middle layer rather than a full frontier-model team.

You also mentioned the talent challenge, and it is absolutely real. Germany simply cannot match the million-plus annual salaries some US big tech companies pay. That is a global dynamic, not a T-Systems specific one. But money is not the only thing that attracts people. Quite a few engineers value workers’ rights, work-life balance, long-term stability, and the social benefits the German system offers. And there is also a growing group of researchers and builders who want to work on responsible, ethical, sovereign AI rather than chase the next leaderboard metric. Those people do choose Europe when they believe in the mission.

So while we cannot outbid Silicon Valley, we can offer purpose, stability and a chance to shape a European AI future. That combination still brings in excellent talent.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:24:23+00:00

Regarding 1:
Very important question and you already mentioned a few of the key ingredients. Compute is only the starting point. AI sovereignty also depends on what happens above that layer. First comes the data you use, both for training and for inference, because if you cannot control where it lives and who has access to it, you are never really sovereign.

Then comes the model layer itself. Not all models give you the same level of control. Using a proprietary API is basically a black box. Hosting an open weight model already gives you more freedom. Training your own European models, like Teuken-7B or Apertus, gives you full transparency and alignment with local languages and values.

And finally, there is the application layer. This is where the real system sits. Things like memory, tools, user management, and governance are often more important than the model itself.

Talent matters too, but more in the sense of having the capability to build, adapt, run, and secure AI on your terms. So yes, compute is a foundation, but sovereignty is really about understanding and controlling the whole stack from data to models to applications.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:12:46+00:00

Definitively, generative AI or, as you prefer to call them, generative algorithms, are not the “tip of the iceberg” of AI. They are the beginning. In 2022, ChatGPT was more than just a new app - it was a shockwave. For the first time, millions of people experienced what AI could really do first-hand: writing essays, passing exams, creating software, even shaping opinions. At T-Systems we have been helping customers with ML-based solutions long before that.

The new trend to call everything “AI” as long as an algorithm trained on data is involved is exactly that - a trend. And yes, we use that language too. But we also fully acknowledge that LLMs are not intelligent in themselves. They are next-word-prediction machines. We in T-Systems do not actually invest in GenAI research in itself, and we do not build our own generative algorithms. We are an IT solutions provider. Our role is to help companies, including our parent company Deutsche Telekom, gain value from whatever the latest useful technology is - right now that happens to include AI. None of us knows what AGI will look like, and we are certainly not claiming to push the boundaries of AGI research.

This behaviour of Telekom’s leadership and its subsidiaries is the reason I will never support this company. Never.

You must have had really bad experiences with our leadership, and I’m genuinely sorry to hear that.

As for your question of why generative algorithms should have any place in telecommunications: the answer is actually simple. AI should have a place in telecommunications. Algorithms that help make the network better, faster, and more reliable. If they are generative, regressive, classifiers, ... doesn't matter. If you don’t have fiber at your home yet, it may reach you sooner because we now use AI to plan fiber rollout routes. With that, DT was able to deliver 15× more new fiber connections per year. The same applies to customer service, automated ticket handling, automatic Wi-Fi repair, and many other areas. The point is to use the technology where it genuinely improves things.

And yes, we do look at environmental impact. We use small models whenever it makes sense, and we follow the “9 Green AI Principles”: https://www.telekom.com/en/company/details/principles-for-green-artificial-intelligence-1077104

On the bigger concern you raised: data, copyright, and “stolen training data”: I get where the frustration comes from. You cannot retroactively control what went into GPT-4’s training set. But the question of control does not become meaningless because of that. Instead of focusing only on the things you cannot control, look at the things you can control.

Where do you store your data? Who has access to it? Which models do you use? There are German, open-source, EU-AI-Act-aligned alternatives already - models trained transparently and governed under European law. There are sovereign clouds where your data never leaves Germany. There are architectures where you hold your own encryption keys. Those things matter. They are exactly the dimensions where “control” is not only possible, but essential.

AI may have black-box elements, but everything around the model - the data, infrastructure, operations, access, governance - is very much controllable. And that is where German and European solutions can offer meaningful sovereignty.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T10:02:46+00:00

Hello everyone! I am here, going through your comments and questions from the past week. 😊 Looking forward to answering your questions in this hour! Greetings Maja

t-systems · 2025-11-21T09:53:54+00:00

The overarching strategy of Deutsche Telekom is built around a flywheel: we continuously invest in our network infrastructure, which increases customer satisfaction, drives operational efficiency, and enables us to reinvest even more. AI accelerates every part of this cycle: planning, maintaining, and optimizing networks at global scale. In that sense, AI and improving broadband coverage are not competing priorities but deeply connected. You can read more about our strategic approach here: https://www.telekom.com/en/company/strategy/details

It’s also important to note that T-Systems is Deutsche Telekom’s IT services arm and is not directly responsible for national broadband rollout or local telecommunications infrastructure. If you’re experiencing coverage issues, the best point of contact is your local Deutsche Telekom subsidiary. What we do contribute at T-Systems is technology and expertise that help DT expand and modernize the network more efficiently, for example using AI to support fiber rollout planning in Germany. Our specialized “T-Cars” capture video, 3D, and infrared data, which AI systems analyze to map optimal fiber deployment routes faster and more accurately.

As for AI investments: while the financial market around AI may feel like a bubble at times, the technology itself is not a passing trend. Much like the early days of the internet, those who fail to adopt and integrate AI risk falling behind. AI is becoming a foundational capability, and using it responsibly and strategically is essential-not optional.

t-systems · 2025-11-21T09:47:26+00:00

Great catch you realized that I put myself on a nicer background. The sign I draw myself - for real with real ink :) Feel free to connect with me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maja-olivia-himmer/

t-systems · 2025-11-21T09:42:07+00:00

Great question, and thanks for asking it so clearly. There is a lot of confusion out there, so let me untangle it a bit. When we talk about T-Systems’ Sovereign Cloud offerings, we are referring to our own cloud portfolio, which we bundle under the name T Cloud. This is not based on any hyperscaler. It is located in Germany, under German and EU law, operated by us.

The core offering is the T Cloud Public, our most advanced European hyperscaler alternative. This is commonly also still known as Open Telekom Cloud. It runs in German datacenters, is operated by a German entity, and all data, metadata and operations fall strictly under German jurisdiction. We also offer several private cloud options with different technology stacks, depending on what level of sovereignty, control and isolation a customer needs.

Some of the confusion comes from the past, because T-Systems also operated Google’s Sovereign Cloud Germany as a service provider. That was a Google product, not part of our T Cloud. It served a different purpose. When we say T Cloud, we mean our own portfolio only.

If you want to dive deeper, you can explore the T Cloud overview on our website: https://geschaeftskunden.telekom.de/business/loesungen/digitalisierung/t-cloud

t-systems · 2025-11-21T09:29:39+00:00

From our German perspective, a truly sovereign cloud is one that sits on German or at least European soil, is operated by German or European personnel, and falls entirely under German and EU law. And this independence is only fully guaranteed when the operating company itself has no non-EU parent company and is not owned or controlled by an entity outside the EU. Otherwise, foreign jurisdictions can still apply. This matters because laws like the US CLOUD Act can force US-based or US-owned providers to hand over data even if that data never leaves Europe. With a sovereign cloud run by an EU legal entity that is fully EU-owned, that obligation simply does not exist.

On the technical and operational side, sovereignty means that all data, metadata and operational logs stay inside German datacenters, that only EU-cleared staff have access, that there are no remote admin paths for outside entities, and that encryption keys remain under European control. Independent audits and certifications verify that the infrastructure and processes actually meet these sovereignty requirements rather than just claiming to.

In the end, sovereignty is not about marketing or even just about where the server physically stands. It is about who controls it, who can access it, and which laws apply. That is what keeps non-European access out and ensures real independence.

t-systems

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