(SILENCE)
Then I would like to have a warm welcome for Minister Alexandra van Huffelen.
(APPLAUSE)
I have two questions for you. -Yes, go ahead.
MODERATOR: So maybe we can come to the front of the stage.
We're better visible there.
So, when I see you in the news, you appear very motivated on this issue.
Can you elaborate something on your motivation...
for working on this digital society?
Well, it's basically two reasons, because it brings us such great opportunities...
to make our lives better...
and generally of everyone.
Using digitalisation...
can make our work better...
can make us as a government bring better services to people.
There's loads of benefits.
And then, also in my previous job in the government...
I found out that, for instance, AI and algorithm...
can also do very big harm to people.
You're responsible for solving that problem, if I'm correct.
I'm responsible for solving the problem, but then I got to very much understand...
what went wrong.
So the idea of striking a balance between using the opportunities...
but definitely also protecting citizens...
making sure that the digital world is a world based on values, on public values...
is something that motivates me very much.
And I'm very happy to see that this is an issue...
that is being taken up by not only the European Union...
the Commission, the Council, but definitely also by the European Parliament.
This is also an issue that is coming up far more...
with all kinds of member states, basically with all of the member states.
So I have a lot of colleagues who are working on this also very diligently.
I see your Danish colleague being very active on LinkedIn on this, for example.
And what do you like to achieve through this day?
Well, I'm here actually today to ask you to work together...
on an issue that I'm going to talk a bit further about...
because we found out something, we found out a methodology...
that we believe can be very effective in order to help our citizens...
to protect them, to give them more safety online...
make sure that our algorithms, the way that we use digitalisation...
is going to be more based on public values.
And we found out that it worked for us in the Netherlands.
So I'm hoping to see and to discuss if that is also going to be the case here.
Sounds great. Ladies and gentlemen, Minister Van Huffelen.
(APPLAUSE)
VAN HUFFELEN: Thank you very much.
And I'm super happy that you all made it to come to this very beautiful library.
I'm sorry for the people that are watching us online.
You have to miss this magnificent surroundings that we are in here...
the Solvay Library...
a beautiful piece of art and functionality.
So maybe it also has to do a bit...
with the times that we were not so digital...
but were working on information and sharing stuff as well.
I wanted to welcome you here, also because of course we're in Brussels...
the home to Europe's most important institutions...
guarding European values.
And moreover, and more and more today...
these values also have a very strong digital component.
They are attacked, defended and debated online...
and they are effected profoundly by systems...
that even their makers sometimes do not fully understand...
sometimes in ways that are deeply unsettling.
And therefore, in 2023, this year, this era basically...
it's impossible to talk about human dignity, freedom of expression...
and the right to a private life...
without also talking about encryption, AI, data storage.
The Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act and the AI Act...
are groundbreaking new ways to bring big tech in line with our values.
The European Union has really raised the bar here.
It's a very important regulation to protect our citizens.
But while we are working on parts of this important regulation...
some is already in place, others are still under development...
we also want to protect our citizens today, using the tools that we already have.
And I believe we can and do exactly that, and there also front run the new regulation.
We should find a method to reap the benefits of digitalisation...
while at the same time protect our public values.
And we believe we found this method.
Namely by combining new tools in upcoming regulations...
such as the Human Rights Impact Assessment...
with already long-standing assessments...
such as the Data Protection Impact Assessment, DPIA, based on the GDPR.
And we believe in this way, we can work together...
as countries, as European Union, to achieve that all public values...
are going to be embedded in digital services.
Today, I want to tell you a bit more about this method...
which was called by the New York Times 'the Dutch approach'...
and I hope today we can improve this way of working together...
and enlarge its effects.
Good digital services and public values could and should go hand in hand.
Just to dive into it a bit further.
As governments of course, we are large and important users of tech platforms...
whether it's in education or in communication.
And our responsibility, our legal responsibility as a user of the platforms...
also represents an opportunity...
an opportunity to look under the hood so to speak...
to discover what actually happens to our data and with our citizens's.
An opportunity to get changes made...
and to engage in dialogue and negotiations with very large platforms.
We can all do this now, today, with the tools that we already have in hand.
We can get much more out of our long-standing assessments...
such as the DPIA.
Later today, Sjoera Nas will talk about this 'Dutch method' way of working...
in more detail.
And later this afternoon, Lorelien Hoet from Microsoft will join in a panel.
Because I also wanted to compliment her in advance for the way that Microsoft...
in response to the DPIA that we conducted on Microsoft Teams...
OneDrive and SharePoint Online have changed these products in a global way.
But for now, let me tell you a bit more on what we're doing in the Netherlands...
applying the European regulation.
We want to really assess how big tech businesses process our data...
because if we as a government can use them safely...
then citizens can use them safely as well, and businesses alike.
So we need a granular view on the processing of data.
Where is it stored? How is it processed?
How are the insights gained from data used?
How does an algorithm decide what content to serve?
We have to conduct these assessments on every product...
and that we as European governments are using.
Ranging from social media platforms and video call services...
to messaging apps and collaboration tools.
This has to be a collaborative effort of the member states.
Where the AI technology is concerned...
we go the extra mile with the so-called Human Rights Impact Assessment.
In this, we use a model that we've developed...
and is called the Impact Assessment for Human Rights and Algorithms...
and this assessment checks if AI technology has impact on human rights.
And these encompass the physical and mental integrity...
but also the rights like freedom of demonstration...
and the prohibition of profiling.
To conduct so-called HRIA, Human Rights Impact Assessment...
can help us assess compliance with the protection of fundamental rights.
I have to mention, by doing it in this way...
we're actually a bit front running the AI Act.
In both types of assessments...
so the Privacy Impact Assessment and the Human Rights Impact Assessment...
when risks are found...
we bring them to the attention of the tech company in question.
We explain how the process contradicts our aims and values...
and discuss steps for improvement.
We make it clear that we will discontinue usage if improvements are not made.
I am confident that if we all as European member states...
and the European Commission...
conduct these two assessments on different platforms...
our collaborative efforts will bring real change and also quite soon.
For us, for the tech industry and for the people of Europe.
And I'm very happy to say that so far...
tech companies have been generally speaking...
more than willing to engage in these discussions.
And more often than not, we actually succeeded...
in having or making the changes we believe that were necessary.
In line with the EU data protection philosophy...
our approach is very much centered around the purpose for which the data are used.
Take, for instance, Google education tools.
We had to explain that students' data cannot be used for commercial purposes.
And eventually, we succeeded in getting the changes we wanted.
Changes that will now benefit the whole of Europe.
I would also like to highlight one example in particular.
During the pandemic, the Dutch government...
like many governments around the world...
used social media to get information out there, about vaccines, for example.
But what we found is that users who engage with our message...
were soon getting recommendations from other pages...
spreading disinformation about vaccines.
It should be clear that the Dutch government did not really want this.
It would go completely against everything that we stand for.
And that shows how imporant it is that we do this work.
It also shows that we still have a lot of work to be done.
But at the same time, I truly believe that if we do this all together...
all member states, with the Commission...
that we can be very optimistic about the future.
We have an opportunity to set the standard for tech regulation...
of course also together with the companies.
Europe has always been a leader in that regard...
and we see that also not only from the Netherlands...
but for instance in Italy, succeeding in bringing ChatGPT...
more in line with the European values.
Moreover, this has also changed to get more transparency...
that benefits the whole of Europe.
So this way of working shows we do not have to wait...
for the AI Act to take action.
We can already start working now, working with what we already have...
based on existing products of some that are already being assessed...
and also investigating new technologies.
And speaking about new technologies, that is exactly what we need to do as well.
Not only look at the ones that we are already seeing right now...
the social media platforms, the communication platforms...
the way that we work together.
It's also very important to look at new developments.
And it's encouraging to see that the negotiations around the AI Act...
are also about general and generative AI and subject for discussion.
If we're looking at conducting these assessments...
on all major services that we're using, for instance, also the metaverse...
we are working on that very much also in the Netherlands.
We work with schools on the Meta Quest VR headset...
which sounds very technical...
but it's basically these glasses that students can use.
And we want to be sure that the data that are collected...
the biometric data, are going to be protected.
Because we want to be sure that children are not going to be manipulated...
by the technologies.
And this is one of the things that we're going to work on in the coming time.
But there's many more work to be done.
And therefore, I also call upon all of you...
to not only discuss this methodology with you...
but also see if we can work together to make sure...
that we do it as quickly as possible in order to protect our citizens.
And talking about protecting citizens...
as a government, we have basically three guiding principles.
We're doing this work using the tools that we have...
because we find it very important in general on digitalisation...
that it's going to be a value-driven development.
And those values are basically in three points.
We find it important that everyone can participate in the digital age...
which is not the case today, because people find it very difficult...
they don't understand it, they might not even think it's something for them...
they may not trust it.
That is very important.
The second principle is that everybody can trust the digital world.
This has to do of course with cybersecurity...
make sure that we protect ourselves...
but also with AI and the protection of, for instance, algorithms.
And of course, there's the number three...
which says that we find it important that everybody has control over their digital life.
Here we work, for instance, on the issue of creating wallets...
to make sure that people have control over their data...
but also all the tools that are used around them.
And of course as a government, as a digital government...
we have to work value-driven and transparent...
already ahead of everybody else as much as we can.
To make sure that this participation, trust and having your own control...
is going to be also in all of our work.
And the things that we're doing for instance there...
is using and building algorithm database...
make sure that we publicise them...
and make also sure that they are going to be used in the right way.
So on the basis of all these principles...
that I'm sure that are also the basis of the principles that the EU uses...
and also many other member states...
I would really invite you, or basically also urge you, to join in.
We're doing a load of great things together.
But I believe that if we're going to work together...
on making the assessments, the data privacy assessments...
and the Human Rights Impact Assessment...
on different kinds of tools and technologies...
that we, together with the tech companies...
can work much faster, already starting today.
Also when there's not all the regulations in place...
to help our citizens and companies to use the digital world in a very safe way.
A way that they can trust it, a way they can participate...
but also can be sure that their data and their lifes online...
are being protected and that they have control over them.
If we divide a bit our tasks, with cooperation, with knowledge sharing...
with a division of tasks, we can actually do it very soon I believe.
And, as I don't want to come empty-handed today...
I really would like to offer to kick-start and coordinate the efforts...
if you're interested, and I do hope so.
But we're going to discuss that all of this afternoon.
I'm sure that you will be very interested to hear...
what some of our colleagues have to say, what science is telling us...
and also what the data protection authorities are telling us...
in order to see how we can work together.
I will stop now, because there are great people...
that are going to speak later today.
But then again, I wouldn't want to stop...
by just also reiterating that I look forward to discussing with you today...
and hopefully also to be able to set up a programme together...
where we can start protecting our citizens...
with all the regulation that we already have in place as soon as we can.
Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
MODERATOR: Thank you for the speech. -VAN HUFFELEN: Thank you.
MODERATOR: Are there any questions from participants for Minister Van Huffelen?
Remarks, ideas?
(SILENCE)
Has anyone ever tried it already or is it just us? No.
Maybe I can ask you a question. -Yeah.
Do you think as of now...
let's say there's enough democratic debates in member states...
about these issues, or is the discussion about AI, the GDPR...
and other regulations that secure public values too confined to Brussels?
What do you think about that?
Well, you can always say that there's not enough discussion and debate about it.
But I do believe that many people are discussing it.
And one of the great things about this generative AI...
that's been, you know, up for in the general public for the last few months...
is that you see in almost every newspaper every day or every kind of magazine...
an article about it, about what it can bring...
but also what the challenges are...
what we see as possible threats of this technology.
So I'm hoping that now, this is a bit more of also a public debate...
that we can have it more as a public debate in the coming time.
Thank you. -Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, Minister Van Huffelen. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
(SILENCE)