REGULATING WITH SYSTEMIC INTELLIGENTSIA: Algorithmic Sovereignty, NET Risk Governance, and the Political Economy of AI as Sovereign Enabler of GDP Growth

Abstract The governance of artificial intelligence in emerging economies is routinely framed as a choice between sovereign protection and economic growth. This paper rejects that framing as a false binary and proposes instead that algorithmic sovereignty and economic enablement are co-conditions of sustainable AI-driven development. The central thesis is expressed through an original accounting metaphor that carries precise analytical weight: a country that adopts AI without calculating the Cost of Technological Sovereignty is practising creative accounting in its national balance sheet. Drawing on five interconnected theoretical pillars — Algorithmic Sovereignty and Cognitive Colonization (Tandane, 2025); Structural Systemic Intelligence (Tandane, 2026f); Ubuntu as operational governance philosophy; the NET Risk Balancete (expanded to five dimensions); and the Political Economy of AI — the paper develops the Sovereign Enablement Framework (SEF): a four-axis architecture for governing AI that protects epistemic sovereignty while maximising GDP-contributing innovation. The paper conducts an expanded systematic gap analysis of fourteen Mozambican regulatory instruments across six domains, revealing a structural pattern named here as the Output-Mechanism Gap: the consistent regulation of what AI must produce without any governance of how it produces it. A comparative analysis of five Global South jurisdictions — South Africa, Rwanda, India, Brazil, and Kenya — interrogates each through the SEF lens. Differentiated recommendations address the multi-institutional architecture required across the Banco de Moçambique, CMVM, INTIC, BVM, GIFiM, and APCE. A complete Glossary defines all original, technical, and Mozambican legal terms used throughout. Keywords: algorithmic sovereignty | cognitive colonization | Structural Systemic Intelligence | NET Risk Balancete | Cost of Technological Sovereignty | Sovereign Algorithm Doctrine | Output-Mechanism Gap | political economy of AI | Sovereign Enablement Framework | Ubuntu governance | fabricated procrastination | Mozambique | Global South