A Declaration on Power, Freedom, and the Public Nature of Intelligence in the Age of AI

As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves into a foundational infrastructure of future civilization, concerns surrounding AI governance extend beyond technological capability and existential risk. This declaration argues that the defining challenge of the AI era lies in the potential concentration of intelligence infrastructure and the resulting concentration of cognitive influence within a limited number of technological ecosystems. While vertically integrated AI systems may accelerate innovation, they may also create new forms of structural dependence that threaten individual and societal freedom. To address these emerging risks, the paper introduces three interrelated concepts: Technological Sovereignty, defined as freedom from dependence on a single technological ecosystem; Cognitive Sovereignty, understood as the ability to maintain meaningful control over one's own processes of thought and judgment; and Ontological Autonomy, the capacity to remain the author of one's own existence in an increasingly AI-mediated world. Building upon the framework of On-Site Adaptive Innovation (OAI), the declaration emphasizes the importance of decentralized adaptive capabilities and the democratization of intelligence infrastructure. It concludes that the future of AI will be shaped not only by the power of intelligent systems but also by the governance structures that determine access to and control of intelligence itself. Preserving technological plurality, cognitive freedom, and human autonomy is therefore presented as a fundamental prerequisite for maintaining freedom in the age of artificial intelligence.