Trust, Security & Regulation
AI in Switzerland: research, models and regulation at a glance
Research as the foundation: ETH, EPFL and CSCS
The backbone of Swiss AI is public research. ETH Zurich and EPFL in Lausanne are consistently ranked among the world's best technical universities and pool their efforts in the Swiss AI Initiative, launched in 2023 with more than 800 researchers involved. The compute comes from the national supercomputing centre CSCS in Lugano and its Alps system, one of the most powerful AI machines in Europe.
Apertus: the open Swiss language model
In September 2025, ETH Zurich, EPFL and CSCS released Apertus (Latin for open), a large language model built for transparency: not only the weights but also the training data, recipe and documentation are openly available. Apertus was trained in two sizes of roughly 8 and 70 billion parameters, covers more than 1000 languages and places particular emphasis on multilingual, legally compliant data use.
- Fully open: weights, datasets and training code under a permissive licence
- Designed to be multilingual, with a high share of non-English data
- Trained on Alps at CSCS, coordinated through the Swiss AI Initiative
- Available via Hugging Face and Swiss partners such as Swisscom, among others
Innovation ecosystem: Innosuisse, start-ups and talent
Alongside basic research, the innovation agency Innosuisse supports transfer into the economy and funds projects between universities and companies. A dense web of spin-offs and AI start-ups has grown around ETH and EPFL, in areas such as model reliability, computer vision and language technology. Switzerland has topped the WIPO Global Innovation Index for years, an indicator of talent density, funding and research strength.
Regulation: sector-based rather than a horizontal AI law
Switzerland takes a technology-neutral, sector-based approach. Instead of a comprehensive EU-style AI law, the Federal Council (decision of February 2025) intends to ratify the Council of Europe AI Convention and adapt existing law where needed; a concrete draft is to be prepared by the end of 2026. The revised Data Protection Act (revFADP, in force since September 2023), overseen by the FDPIC, remains central. Note: the EU AI Act has extraterritorial effect and applies to Swiss providers serving the EU market.
- Technology-neutral and sector-based: no horizontal AI-specific law
- revFADP as the key data-protection foundation, overseen by the FDPIC
- Signing the Council of Europe AI Convention as an international-law framework
- EU AI Act with extraterritorial effect for exporting companies
Adoption and the Swiss advantage
In practice, Swiss companies increasingly use AI in customer service, document processing, quality control and research. The location advantage lies in combining multilingualism (German, French, Italian, Romansh), a high level of data protection, political stability and excellent infrastructure. For regulated sectors such as finance, pharma and public administration, data sovereignty and traceability are decisive, factors that make open, Swiss-hosted models attractive.
Outlook: what matters in 2026 and beyond
- Further development of Apertus and follow-up models from the Swiss AI Initiative
- Concrete regulation taking shape after ratifying the Council of Europe Convention
- Expansion of sovereign infrastructure (CSCS Alps) and Swiss hosting offerings
- Growing importance of AI skills and governance within organisations
Frequently asked questions
What is Apertus?
Apertus is a fully open large language model released in 2025 by ETH Zurich, EPFL and CSCS. Not only the weights but also the training data and recipe are open. It came in two sizes (roughly 8 and 70 billion parameters) and is designed to be multilingual.
Does Switzerland have an AI law like the EU?
No. Switzerland takes a technology-neutral, sector-based approach rather than a horizontal AI law. The Federal Council intends to ratify the Council of Europe AI Convention and adapt existing law; a draft is expected by the end of 2026.
Does the EU AI Act apply to Swiss companies?
Yes, it can. The EU AI Act has extraterritorial effect: Swiss providers that place AI systems or their outputs on the EU market may be covered. In addition, the revised Data Protection Act (revFADP) applies in Switzerland.
What role do ETH Zurich and EPFL play?
They are the heart of Swiss AI research. Through the Swiss AI Initiative launched in 2023, both universities pool the efforts of over 800 researchers and stand behind models such as Apertus. The compute is provided by CSCS.
What is the Alps supercomputer at CSCS?
Alps is the flagship system of the national supercomputing centre CSCS in Lugano and one of the most powerful AI machines in Europe. It provides the compute for the Swiss AI Initiative and for training models such as Apertus.
Which data-protection law applies to AI in Switzerland?
The relevant law is the revised Data Protection Act (revFADP), in force since September 2023 and overseen by the FDPIC. Swiss cases are not governed by the EU GDPR, though the GDPR may apply additionally where there is an EU nexus.
Key terms in the glossary
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