VB Transform 2026 featured discussions on generative AI agents driving business outcomes. Cohere's Rachad Alao emphasized AI sovereignty, which extends beyond basic deployment to tight control over data, infrastructure, and vendor choices. True sovereignty means operating mission-critical systems in controlled jurisdictions with full stack oversight. While token prices fall, Alao argued that rising agentic use cases dramatically increase overall token consumption. Cohere focuses on solving complex problems privately and securely, avoiding arbitrary token maximization in billing. Alao advocates for routing tasks to the most appropriate model, not always the largest frontier model. Smaller, more efficient models are effective for the majority of enterprise tasks. Cohere's North Mini Code, for instance, is cost-effective for many software engineering needs. Search is evolving beyond text retrieval to multimodal integration within agentic workflows. Data control and vendor lock-in are key motivators for enterprises seeking greater AI sovereignty.