From mid-July Google Bart A chatbot that answers questions with artificial intelligence is also available in the Netherlands. With this, the American tech company will collect a lot of data back from the Dutch. More than governments do.
American companies like Google, Meta and WhatsApp already have more information about us than the Dutch government. For example, with the help of collected data, they can predict infectious diseases better than RIVM. They can identify public order disturbances faster than local government, make public transport work more efficiently than Dutch railways or detect crime more effectively than our police.
According to Peter de Kock, Professor of Data Science, Crime & Safety at Tilburg University and founder of Pandora Intelligence, this is interesting, but worrying. It risks marginalizing government and democracy. Government regulation seems a logical solution to solve this problem. But the rapid growth of ‘data science’ contrasts sharply with the slowness with which laws are made.
Dutch politicians and ordinary citizens who use Google, Meta and other companies should be aware of this gap. We need to think about how we want to shape our society in an era where the concept of privacy as we know it no longer exists.
In doing so, we must strike a balance between ensuring privacy and embracing the benefits of artificial intelligence and data analytics. Democratic values such as security, freedom and the right to make mistakes must not be lost in this development.
