AI on Home Soil: A Morning on Safe and Sovereign AI

On Thursday 21 May, together with CivAI, HowSmart.ai | AI with expertise and De AI Fabriek, we organised the event “AI on Home Soil” in Utrecht, and it was wonderful to see how many organisations are grappling with the same question:

How do we deploy AI in a responsible, safe, and strategic way, without becoming completely dependent on Big Tech?

With over 40 participants from education, government, public institutions and the business sector, there were strong discussions about digital sovereignty, governance, AI infrastructure and, above all, the practical side of implementation.

Thanks to Daniel Verloop for the opening and keynote, to Scaleway for the online contribution about European AI infrastructure, and of course to all participants for the open discussions, critical questions and energy.

During the breakout sessions, we saw just how varied the applications of AI can be. From bespoke solutions and governance approaches to secure AI environments such as GovGPT, EduGPT, OrgGPT and CareGPT, in which organisations themselves retain control over data, models and usage.

What struck me is that the conversation is less and less about “which tool” and increasingly about which values, which infrastructure and what form of autonomy we want to maintain. But also about building together, moving forward together.

In my view, that is where the real challenge and opportunity will lie in the coming years.

Thank you to everyone who attended. This has definitely left us wanting more.