Mayor Sebastiaan van 't Erve of the municipality of Lochem sees the opportunities offered by AI and Algorithms. But he also advocates keeping a close eye on digital values such as human rights. Lochem published 3 algorithms in the Algorithm Register. Transparency is important, he argues. "But the question is really: how do we raise awareness?"
"Digitalization is the backbone of government, that backbone is becoming more and more important." That it is important to take good care of that he realized even more since the municipality of Lochem was hacked in 2019. Taking good care of that digital backbone is increasingly about principles he states. "What started out being good security and making sure you're on top of it is increasingly becoming a story of compliance: are you complying with the rules? For me, this now goes one layer deeper: it's about human rights."
He therefore advocates greater awareness of norms and values in digitalization: "Where are the boundaries and to what extent do we want to explore them? We need to have that debate much more intently. I think we have something to add there as a government." If we want to be effective in protecting human rights, more frameworks are needed, he argues. "So how do we do that? That can only be done from the central government, the collective of municipalities or actually preferably from Europe."
"New technologies like generative AI offer a range of possibilities. I've seen examples of that and am impressed with how well a computer can answer complex questions. We can use AI to make complex regulations more accessible to residents, there is a real opportunity there." There are also limits to the possibilities. "For example, can an AI chatbot also assess your personal situation and determine whether you are entitled to benefits? Then it becomes complicated. That's where human checks belong, I think."
Worrying about the developments in AI and algorithms, Van 't Erve believes that they are being driven by a number of large tech companies that act out of commercial interest. "We as administrators and politicians have to worry about that: do we actually see what we are doing?" Then it's about their own use of algorithms, but Van 't Erve also looks more broadly. "Think about something as principled as Cambridge Analytica (a company that illegally deployed data from American Facebook users to influence their political preferences, ed.). When you have that much data from people, it's pretty easy to influence people's views. And into whose hands do you put such a dangerous weapon?"
It starts with awareness. "We don't even realize how bad it is that we throw all our digital traces everywhere. That's really a discussion we need to have. I understand that for a lot of people it's a distant concept. It often ends up in discussions about cookie walls, when really it should be a notch deeper."
The government is also too dependent on foreign (big) tech companies in the applications of new technologies, he says. He therefore calls for more digital sovereignty at the European level, including for AI. "AI is now a kind of magic term, but most of the servers on which that AI runs are in China and America. Do we think it's wise that we as Dutch people and as a Dutch government just ask our questions to a device of which we don't know what they do on the back end with our questions and the answers?" This is also about human rights: "We have spent years building a strong foundation of European values. We have to apply those principles tightly and therefore also say: it does matter where something comes from. Geopolitical tensions are rising enormously. Whether it's Chinese equipment or American software; other governments like to watch us." Digital sovereignty requires Europe to take more direction in AI developments, for example, in developing its own language models based on European norms and values.
You can read more about European values and principles in: European digital rights and principles.
"We sent a memo to the city council not too long ago to inform them about the legislation that is coming to ensure human rights and security. Then you notice that for an average council member this is still quite far away from their daily practice. I think that applies to more politicians. It looks so quickly technical, things we hardly understand, while it is actually about very principled things: about human rights. Also at municipalities."
"We are also society, so we move with the technical developments. We try to do that within the right frameworks. We now have three algorithms on the Algorithm Register, but I wouldn't be surprised if we actually have more."
"This does represent the development that we as a government now have to go through together. Not everyone will technically understand exactly what happens behind the scenes, but the idea that we are accountable for the choices we make and not hiding that is crucial. Because it's about human rights. That we understand that we have a powerful digital tool that can affect every human being. That we use new technology in a careful and clean way and are willing to be accountable for it. That's that movement we need to make."
Transparency is important, but more is needed. "I hope we can look for: how do we raise that awareness? Because it sometimes seems like registration in the Algorithm Register is a kind of technical safeguard, but it's actually about points of principle."
The conversation about the principles behind the use of algorithms - and more broadly of digitization - is not yet being had enough at the administrative level, he observes. "Internally, we do have these conversations within the municipality, but it is not yet high on the administrative agenda. It doesn't get on the table much at college meetings, let alone in regional consultations, in a security region or higher up within the UNG. This is something we need to take up together, because we are in a crucial phase of the digitization of the Netherlands."
