Almost half of UK businesses expect operational disruption if their AI systems go dark, according to new findings from Red Hat, a resilience gap leaving British firms exposed to the whims of US tech giants. 

The open‑source software firms’ latest survey, based on insights from 500 IT decision makers across the UK and EU, found that despite 67% of British companies having a defined exit strategy from their primary AI provider, 43% would suffer if their access were suddenly restricted.

With AI technology now embedded in myriad core business processes, tech sovereignty has fast become a hot-button issue. Red Hat found that control over data, infrastructure and provider relationships has moved from aspiration to operational priority, with 48% of UK organisations having complete visibility over their data.

However, 45% admit that their data visibility is only partial, with ambitions for AI sovereignty still a work in progress.

The problem is becoming particularly acute as big tech companies headquartered in the US continue to take a large swathe of UK markets. Last year, research from Proton found that 88% of the UK’s publicly listed firms depend on US tech for their email and communications, while the country’s cloud market is dominated by Microsoft and AWS. 

This dependence leaves firms based outside the US in a vulnerable position, a problem spotlit last March when the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor lost access to his emails after being disconnected by Microsoft, though the tech firm strongly disputes that this was the result of political pressure from the Trump administration.

Regardless, to try and stay ahead of future sovereignty issues, the majority of UK IT decision makers (80%) see open source as a possible means of gaining more control over how the AI they rely on is built and where it runs, which Red Hat claims as evidence of the importance of open source in avoiding AI lock-in. 

Over the next three years, respondents say the most valuable open source benefits for building trust in AI will be transparency and easier auditability (87%), more customisation for business and regulatory needs (82%), and greater control over how AI is built and where it runs (80%). 

The UK is also receptive to policy‑driven standards for sovereign AI, with 89% of firms agreeing that public policy and regulation should mandate open source principles, such as auditability and open source licensing, to help organisations achieve sovereignty. 

This positions the UK as one of the strongest advocates for regulatory-driven tech sovereignty across EMEA, well above the average of 77%, and ahead of France (70%) and Germany (72%). 

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Red Hat said that the near-consensus across UK businesses points to an alignment between industry priorities and regulatory direction on what trusted AI should look like.

“AI platforms are increasingly part of UK organisations’ critical infrastructure. Many have written exit strategies in preparation for any challenges, but our survey shows that actually executing a switch without disruption remains difficult,” said Joanna Hodgson, UK country manager for Red Hat.

“To close that gap, enterprises need greater control over how and where AI runs, and a consistent way to govern fast‑moving technologies like agentic AI. Enterprise open source gives UK businesses the transparency, flexibility and shared innovation they need to treat AI as a resilient, sovereign capability.”