Dutch digital minister
RULEBREAKER No. 5
Alexandra van Huffelen didn’t know a lot about tech coverage when she was appointed because the Netherlands’ first secretary of state for digital affairs in January. And but, the social liberal politician couldn’t have been in a greater place to grasp how excessive the stakes had been for her authorities to get it proper.
Van Huffelen joined the federal government as a junior finance minister in 2020 amid a serious scandal — greater than 25,000 individuals had been wrongly accused of fraud to get baby care advantages due to a defective synthetic intelligence algorithm utilized by Dutch tax authorities. After two years dealing with compensations for victims, Van Huffelen will now be on the hook for implementing new safeguards for using AI, together with the creation of a brand new algorithm regulator below the nation’s information safety authority.
After the Dutch parliament known as for governments and firms to be compelled to conduct and publicly launch elementary rights assessments of AI instruments earlier than utilizing them, Van Huffelen and her authorities can be below heavy scrutiny at dwelling to struggle to beef up human rights safety within the European AI rulebook, often called the Artificial Intelligence Act.
But Van Huffelen will face have a troublesome time in Brussels, the place many EU capitals want to give as a lot latitude as potential to their regulation enforcement and immigration companies wishing to make use of AI for facial recognition and emotion recognition software program. Meanwhile, as a secretary of state, she is not going to have entry to the weekly Cabinet assembly until invited and can stay second solely to the extra highly effective justice and residential affairs and economic system ministries, limiting what she will be able to do.
What to observe for this 12 months: To what extent will the Netherlands cleared the path in advocating for robust human rights safeguards for using synthetic intelligence?
What’s their superpower: Having seen firsthand the human affect of synthetic intelligence.
Influence rating: 17/30
https://www.politico.eu/list/tech-28-2022-ranking/alexandra-van-huffelen/
