The cabinet has agreed on new ground rules with municipalities, provinces, water boards and implementing organizations on the use of generative AI. Civil servants will have more room to use generative AI in their work. For example, to speed up permit applications, answer questions from citizens and entrepreneurs faster or make decisions more efficiently. In doing so, they must adhere to conditions, which are set out in a new guide.
The position paper emphasizes the need for collaboration with all administrators and employees of government organizations, clear risk assessments and the use of reliable generative AI models. It encourages the use of applications and open source solutions developed in Europe.
"Generative AI offers plenty of opportunities to address social issues and improve government services. Think about simplifying administrative processes, strengthening data analysis and improving communication," said Zsolt Szabó, state secretary for Digitalization and Kingdom Relations. "Employees must learn AI literacy through training and collaboration between disciplines such as legal experts, data specialists and developers. In addition, we encourage collaboration within government and with companies and scientists to share knowledge and best practices."
Government agencies are experimenting within the frameworks for responsible and safe use of generative AI. Thus, there are numerous initiatives:
The province of South Holland uses the PZH assistant. This assistant was developed as a secure alternative to ChatGPT and similar chatbots, and is only available to officials of the province of South Holland. The assistant has no direct impact on businesses and citizens because it is primarily used internally.
Chatbot Guus at the Municipality of Goes. Chatbot Guus answers questions posed by citizens. The chatbot uses only predetermined sources, such as urls from goes.nl.
There is a guide (link to other website) has been developed to practically support government professionals of all governments in implementing generative AI in daily (work) practice. These are the first government-wide ground rules for AI.
The position was created through active cooperation between all levels of government, under the coordination of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK). This cooperation fits within the broader Dutch Digitalization Strategy (NDS) for the entire government. The NDS will be sent to the House of Representatives in spring 2025.
Read the full government-wide position for the deployment of generative AI (link to other website).
