Cabinet presents vision for generative AI

The Dutch cabinet shares its vision on generative AI. In it, it stresses the importance of capitalising on the opportunities and challenges of this technology, which it calls promising.

This is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) capable of generating all kinds of content, including text, images and computer code. AI is expected to have a major impact on all domains and sectors of our society. It is also expected to touch all government policy areas. Since, among others, OpenAI's launch of the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT in late 2022, the embrace of generative AI has gained momentum.

The Netherlands is one of the first EU member states to come up with such a vision. The vision follows several ongoing multi-million investments from research institutions, industry and governments to better connect the Netherlands to the rapid developments in artificial intelligence.

The cabinet asks the Social and Economic Council (SER) to map the impact of AI on labour productivity, quantity and quality of work. The government also wants to conduct campaigns to explain to citizens how to protect data from training generative AI models.

It also explores the establishment of a safe and usable public national AI test facility. This year, in addition, public-private partnerships will be launched from AINEd Innovation Labs and a start will be made on responsible generative AI applications in concrete government services. In addition, the creation of a government AI validation team is planned, which will assess available AI applications on, for instance, non-discrimination. The government also wants to continue its commitment to legislative advice by regulators on legal frameworks.

Last November, the cabinet already kicked off the development of its own open language model: GPT-NL. From the first funding round for Facilities Applied Research (FTO) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, GPT-NL will receive a contribution of EUR 13.5 million for this purpose. Through the AINed programme, part of the National Growth Fund, €204.5 million is also available for knowledge, innovation and the application of Dutch AI.

In the vision, the cabinet emphasises that generative AI will have a major impact on the economy, society and both central and decentralised government. In doing so, it sees opportunities, including in terms of productivity and the economy as a whole. The technology can also help improve internal organisational procedures and service delivery. Regarding scientific research, the government points to a role that generative AI can play in devising, improving and accelerating research methods.

At the same time, generative AI brings challenges and risks. For instance, generative AI can affect the way we are presented with information, thus affecting both democracy and the rule of law. Generative AI technology also reinforces already existing dynamics in digital markets, increasing the risk of abuse of market power. The government warns that both in the short and long term, generative AI could lead to the disappearance of jobs.

There are also concerns about bias and selectivity that may be embedded in the systems as a result of the training data and model parameters used. Another risk the government sees is the Netherlands' current dependence on language models from non-European countries. This could be detrimental to the Netherlands' innovative strength and long-term earning power.

A values-driven approach will allow the Netherlands to lead the way in Europe and with Europe in the world. The cabinet expresses ambition for the realisation of a strong AI ecosystem in the Netherlands and the EU. Within this ecosystem, plenty of innovation must be possible with responsible generative AI. The cabinet therefore wants to stimulate cooperation, including through the Dutch AI Coalition.

The cabinet highlights four guiding principles. Generative AI in the Netherlands:

To move from vision to action and deploy generative AI responsibly, the cabinet presents six lines of action. The Netherlands can be at the forefront of the inevitable changes in our society through generative AI by:

"We want to preserve our values and prosperity in the Netherlands," says coordinating minister (Digitalisation), Alexandra van Huffelen. "The IMF figures that in developed economies some 60 per cent of jobs may be affected by AI. We don't want to leave existence security in the Netherlands to big tech companies alone. This therefore requires a government that has ambition and vision, based on public values and our goals: everyone can participate in the digital age, everyone can trust the digital world and everyone has control over their digital lives. By defining what we stand for now, we keep a grip in the future."

Minister Micky Adriaansens of Economic Affairs and Climate added: "It is important that the Netherlands does not remain on the sidelines around artificial intelligence. Certainly generative AI is increasingly developing into one of the defining technologies of our time. In daily life, but also, for example, as an application in machines and in more efficient industrial systems. Europe will have to catch up with Asia and the US. Only if we ourselves start investing more in AI innovations will we have the opportunity to take part and give direction to the correct and promising development of the technology in both our society and economy."

Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf of Education, Culture and Science: "To make full use of the opportunities that generative AI offers, we need to focus on more knowledge and more skills, It is about developing and retaining AI talent so that we can develop generative AI that meets European standards and values. This also adds value to Europe's digital open strategic autonomy. We are also looking at investing in large-scale scientific and technological infrastructure, such as supercomputers and computing power, at national and EU level. In this way, we want to be competitive in the field of LLMs and other forms of generative AI."

Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Image: Gordon Johnson via Pixabay