EBU partners with NVIDIA to build sovereign AI and cloud tech

The EBU has partnered with NVIDIA to build soveriegn AI and cloud frameworks for its members. 

The pair will work on creating AI and cloud systems for public service broadcasters, whose UK members include the BBC and ITV, which are, “exclusively governed by European policy, comply with European data protection and privacy rules, and embody European values.” This was announced at NVIDIA GTC Paris at VivaTech. 

This will mean that the tools are developed and deployed using local infrastructure, datasets and expertise. The EBU and NVIDIA will work with independent software vendors, data center providers, cloud service providers and original equipment manufacturers to create unified approach to the task. 

The EBU will contribute its Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) and Media eXchange Layer (MXL) architecture, aiming to enable interoperability and scalability for workflows, as well as cost- and energy-efficient AI training and inference. This will be built on open source principles.

Training programmes from NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Institute will be made available to EBU members, which will aim to support news integrity. 

The partnership will also aim to create “tools to deliver personalized, contextually relevant services and content recommendation systems, with a focus on transparency, accountability and cultural identity.” This will be achieved through investment in platforms such as NVIDIA AI Enterprise, custom foundation models, large language models trained with local data, and retrieval-augmented generation technologies. 

The EBU and its partners will also invest in local data centers and cloud platforms that support sovereign technologies, such as NVIDIA GB200 Grace Blackwell Superchip, NVIDIA RTX PRO Servers, NVIDIA DGX Cloud and NVIDIA Holoscan for Media. 

Antonio Arcidiacono, chief technology and innovation officer at the EBU, said: “Building sovereign cloud and AI capabilities based on EBU’s Dynamic Media Facility and Media eXchange Layer architecture requires strong cross-industry collaboration. By collaborating with NVIDIA, as well as a broad ecosystem of media technology partners, we are fostering a shared foundation for trust, innovation and resilience that supports the growth of European media.”

Michael Eberhard, chief technology officer of public broadcaster ARD/SWR, and chair of the EBU Technical Committee, commented: “We are proud to collaborate with NVIDIA to drive the development of sovereign AI and cloud services. By advancing these capabilities together, we’re helping ensure that powerful, compliant and accessible media services are made available to all EBU members — powering innovation, resilience and strategic autonomy across the board.”