Great to see that #Apertus has been highlighted as a digitally independent alternative to ChatGPT yesterday! However, this needs a quick fact-check:

- The model was trained in a local data center at CSCS, the costs of the project are almost entirely covered by Swiss public institutions;
- People from all over the world have made contributions - open source LLM development is a global community of interest;
- There are groups in several countries using or fine-tuning Apertus to improve linguistic capabilities and local knowledge;
- While Apertus can run on Amazon servers, thanks to a third-party deployment script, it runs anywhere LLMs can run;
- Quantized versions are available to fit even relatively cheap consumer grade video cards (see my blog posts for details);
- The #PublicAI web interface and Apertus 8B demo runs on AWS, however the large model is hosted by CSCS as well;
- You do not need to use Google to authenticate to Public AI, it is just a convenient way to log into #OpenWebUI - if you want another provider, please suggest it;
- Apertus is not a chatbot on its own, it is a large language model that can be deployed as part of a system to provide chat services.

I'll send this to the maintainers as well. Did I miss anything?

https://di.day/en/digital-switch-recipes/alternativen-zu-chatgpt-co#different-ways-to-cook

Explore a demo of agentic development with the #PublicAI API shared in Vasco’s #Apertus #OpenHands #OpenEduDay repo: https://tinyurl.com/apertus-tutor
GitHub - VascoSch92/open-education-day-2026: Minimal Workflow for OED 2026

Minimal Workflow for OED 2026. Contribute to VascoSch92/open-education-day-2026 development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
After our workshop on #PublicAI for education at #OpenEduDay @CHopen

Auch wenn die Debatte rund um #digitalsovereignty abflacht, bin ich erstaunt, dass #AI in dieser Diskussion gar nicht stattgefunden hat. @marcuwekling Auch bei #diday taucht das Thema kaum auf.
Wenn wir z.B. in unserem Gesundheitswesen AI einsetzen wollen braucht es dafür öffentliche Infrastruktur und LLMs die unseren Interessen dienen.
AI ist eine bahnbrechende Technologie, die eine demokratische Moderation braucht - ähnlich wie die öffentlich-rechtlichen Medien.

Daher wünsche ich mir #publicmoney #publicai

https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2026/03/openai-has-shown-it-cannot-be-trusted-canada-needs-nationalized-public-ai.html

OpenAI Has Shown It Cannot Be Trusted. Canada Needs Nationalized, Public AI - Schneier on Security

Canada has a choice to make about its artificial intelligence future. The Carney administration is investing $2-billion over five years in its Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. Will any value generated by “sovereign AI” be captured in Canada, making a difference in the lives of Canadians, or is this just a passthrough to investment in American Big Tech? Forcing the question is OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has been pushing an “OpenAI for Countries” initiative. It is not the only one eyeing its share of the $2-billion, but it appears to be the most aggressive. OpenAI’s top lobbyist in the region has met with Ottawa officials, including Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon...

Schneier on Security

Hackdays Uri 2026 have been kicked off 🤩

Everything happening will be documented on https://hack.digital-cluster-uri.ch/ . Now powered by #Apertus and #publicai .

#hackathon #HackDays #HackdaysUri

Hackdays Uri 2026

Ein Raum für kollaboratives Tüfteln, Entwickeln und Experimentieren – offen für alle, die digitale Zukunft mitgestalten wollen

"Canada has a choice to make about its artificial intelligence future. The Carney administration is investing $2-billion over five years in its Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. Will any value generated by “sovereign AI” be captured in Canada, making a difference in the lives of Canadians, or is this just a passthrough to investment in American Big Tech?" by Nathan E. Sanders and Bruce Schneier

https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2026/03/openai-has-shown-it-cannot-be-trusted-canada-needs-nationalized-public-ai.html

#artificialIntelligence #publicAI #canada

OpenAI Has Shown It Cannot Be Trusted. Canada Needs Nationalized, Public AI - Schneier on Security

Canada has a choice to make about its artificial intelligence future. The Carney administration is investing $2-billion over five years in its Sovereign AI Compute Strategy. Will any value generated by “sovereign AI” be captured in Canada, making a difference in the lives of Canadians, or is this just a passthrough to investment in American Big Tech? Forcing the question is OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, which has been pushing an “OpenAI for Countries” initiative. It is not the only one eyeing its share of the $2-billion, but it appears to be the most aggressive. OpenAI’s top lobbyist in the region has met with Ottawa officials, including Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon...

Schneier on Security

Debating the Case for a Public AI System in Canada

📰 Original title: Does Canada Need Nationalized, Public AI?

🤖 IA: It's not clickbait ✅
👥 Usuarios: It's not clickbait ✅

View full AI summary: https://killbait.com/en/debating-the-case-for-a-public-ai-system-in-canada/?redirpost=cf46ddb4-1202-494c-8c95-3af51f728201

#artificialintelligence #canada #publicai #nationalization

Debating the Case for a Public AI System in Canada

Canadian security expert Bruce Schneier and Harvard data scientist Nathan Sanders argue that Canada should develop a nationalized, publicly funded AI system to serve Canadian interests rather than…

KillBait Archive
#PublicAI Switzerland 📮
Forest corner street thirty-four
Thirty-ninety-seven Love field
🇨🇭 #Schweiz #Suisse #Svizzera #Svizra
Thankful for the rocking 🎸 support on all sides to make #PublicAI into a viable foundation: to steward and lobby an AI for generations of one Earth 🌍
Grazie a tutti & bonne nuit #wirsindverein

Pleasure to serve as evaluator at the review meeting in #Rome of the #AI4gov #HorizonEurope project 🇪🇺

Great discussions on AI, public governance & real-world policy impact. Encouraging to see such committed work on AI in the public sector.

#AIGovernance #PublicAI