Prime minister Jetten sees potential for AI to improve education

Higher education and research were touched on briefly during the General Political Debate in the House of Representatives. Prime Minister Rob Jetten sees opportunities for AI in education, as ‘a tool for learning more’.

The new government wants to reverse the cuts to education. So far, this has not met with any opposition. Education and research therefore received little attention during the General Political Debate, which follows the presentation of the new national budget. They did come up briefly when Prime Minister Rob Jetten discussed AI.

Artificial intelligence ‘offers the Netherlands enormous opportunities’, the prime minister said on the second day of the debate. According to Jetten, it is therefore important to invest more in AI infrastructure, for example by building AI factories.

AI is also one of the four focus areas within the talent strategy, he repeated. Under this strategy, universities of applied sciences and universities are given scope to attract international students to areas the government considers important. The strategy has been allocated 154 million euros a year.

Great benefit

AI should also be used more effectively in education, according to Jetten. The Netherlands could learn from countries such as Estonia and Singapore, he said, where students benefit ‘greatly’ from digital skills having ‘become part of the curriculum in a good and considered way’.

Jetten wants to discuss this with educators and students, so that AI can be given ‘a good place’ as ‘a tool for learning more’. Exactly what this should look like remains unclear.

Many universities are already fully engaged with AI. Utrecht University recently launched its own chatbot, while other educational institutions, such as the University of Amsterdam, Tilburg University and Erasmus University, also have a bot. Meanwhile, SURF, the ICT cooperative for education and research, is working on a national AI platform.

But people are also concerned about the use of AI in education. Last year, 500 researchers and professors called in an open letter for a more critical approach to artificial intelligence in education. “The use of AI demonstrably prevents students from learning and undermines their ability to think critically”, they wrote.

The Hague                                                                   

AI tools such as ChatGPT are now also being used in The Hague. AI traces have been found in hundreds of Jetten’s own social media posts. AI was also detected in a speech by education minister Rianne Letschert.