(This is an automatically generated translated version of an op-ed that appears in De Volkskrant on January 18, 2024, by Geert-Jan Houben (TU Delft), Kees van der Klauw (NLAIC), Maarten de Rijke (University of Amsterdam), Cees Snoek (University of Amsterdam), and Ronald Stolk (University of Groningen).)
In order not to lose the battle for generative AI to dominant players such as America and China, the Netherlands must invest urgently in an AI infrastructure. For our safety and economic security, argue involved scientists from three universities.
Today, the Ministry of the Interior has released its long-awaited vision of the Dutch government on generative AI announced. This technology is mainly known to the general public through the chatbot ChatGPT. But in the future, this technology can have a major impact on, for example, healthcare, the energy transition and mobility issues.
Consultancy firm McKinsey expects generative AI to increase productivity in a variety of sectors: globally, $2,600-4,400 billion in value will be added annually, equivalent to Germany’s GDP.
To safeguard the Netherlands’ opportunities and interests, the Netherlands must maintain and strengthen knowledge about AI. That knowledge is still fully available today. But developing, training and using generative AI models and retaining talent also requires good AI infrastructure: computers to understand, calculate, train and apply these models.
Straight away
That is why we, as researchers at TU Delft, UvA and RUG and the Dutch AI Coalition and the national Innovation Center for AI, advocate immediately building such a joint national AI infrastructure. If we don’t, we will remain dependent on the large American and Chinese tech companies that currently dominate the AI market.
A simple example of why this is necessary: due to the energy transition, our electricity will increasingly be generated by solar panels and wind turbines, with production varying greatly depending on the weather conditions. At the same time, the capacity of the electricity network is limited. This complex puzzle must be solved to ensure that everyone can charge their car and heat their home. That requires AI systems. For these types of systems, which are essential for society, we should not be dependent on commercial platforms from the United States and China.
Values
We as the Netherlands, and as Europe, must also safeguard our values by focusing on human-oriented AI, whereby we maintain insight into how personal data, copyrights, correctness of answers, bias and influence are handled. Big tech companies now dominate the debate around AI safety with their own interpretations. It is a utopia to think that we can realize our public values and safety with mere legislation and without insight into how AI systems are trained and applied.
Of course, we also want to retain and attract talent for the Netherlands: generative AI plays an important role in innovation and the Netherlands’ future earning capacity. Talent moves to the places where it can best flourish. Brookings research shows that commercial platforms have 29 times more computing power than university platforms. Without their own AI infrastructure, scientists have to resort to foreign platforms and Dutch companies will fall behind if all the data, trained algorithms, and talent reside abroad.
We estimate that this involves an investment of approximately 400 million euros for the construction and operation of a joint AI infrastructure. This will provide the Netherlands with an infrastructure that can compete with the platforms of Big Tech and become available for research and innovation in knowledge institutions and companies. Such an investment is too big and too risky for a single player. Without a substantial contribution from the Dutch government, this AI infrastructure will not be created in the Netherlands and we will remain dependent on Big Tech.
Vulnerable
The architecture of existing generative AI systems is centralized: all knowledge and control is concentrated in one organization and in one physical location. That makes it very vulnerable and an interesting target for malicious parties. Creating our own AI infrastructure also creates an EU backup network for the benefit of our national security and resilience.
That is why we, as knowledge institutions and the business community, call on the government not to passively watch as the competitive position of the Netherlands is eroded, but to actively invest in an AI infrastructure that will allow the Netherlands to maintain and strengthen its leading position.