Belgium unveils new AI strategy to strengthen national control

Belgium has adopted a new national strategy on artificial intelligence aimed at strengthening the country's capabilities, skills, and policy tools while ensuring greater control over the technology, the government said Wednesday.

Digitalization Minister Vanessa Matz said the strategy seeks to ensure that AI creates value for Belgium while allowing the country to "keep control" of its development and use, French-language broadcaster RTBF reported on Wednesday.

Matz noted that 42% of Belgians are already using generative AI, while 34.5% of Belgian companies have adopted AI technologies, placing Belgium among European countries experiencing rapid uptake of the technology.

The new strategy updates Belgium's first National Convergence Plan, adopted in 2022, taking into account changes in the technological and geopolitical environment.

It aims to build on existing investments in research and innovation, public services, infrastructure, and access to European capabilities, while concentrating resources on priority areas and accelerating the transition from AI experimentation to deployment.

It will now be discussed with Belgium's federated entities to determine how it will be implemented.

Among the measures envisaged is a reform of the Strategic Committee on AI to include representatives of the federated entities and strengthen monitoring of priority projects.

The strategy also calls for greater focus on sectors where Belgium has particular strengths, improved access to data for priority AI projects, and the introduction of a "sovereignty grid" for public procurement involving cloud and AI technologies.