The resolution is the result of hearings held by the Commission for Economy, Work, Social Economy, Science and Innovation in April 2021. The aim is to translate various insights from the hearings into concrete actions. The resolution has already been adopted by the Commission and will now be assessed by the Flemish Parliament. The proposal contains a series of different actions, divided into three different themes (socio-economic impact, social awareness and ethical use of AI).

Socio-economic impact

• Building on initiatives already taken by organisations such as the Flemish AI Academy, the VDAB, in cooperation with private partners, must launch a training campaign so that the Flemish economy and labour market can benefit from the application of AI. Within this plan, there should be a focus on profiles that are vulnerable to automation. Actions should also be taken to teach digital skills to low-educated citizens.
• The resolution calls for the necessary resources to be allocated to the AI research programme and for a regular review of its funding. This exercise should focus on international excellence, economic and societal valorisation and spin-off creation
• SMEs should be encouraged to experiment with data-driven work and the development of a digital strategy. They must also be guided towards European innovation subsidies.
  
  

Social awareness

The resolution proposes to increase citizens' acceptance and knowledge of AI applications and to conduct uniform, science-based communication on AI. Actions based on foreign examples should be implemented. In concrete terms, there is a need to:

• Work on a roadmap on participation and citizen science in the context of AI. To this end, the Knowledge Centre Data & Society and the Scivil Knowledge Centre will take the first steps.
• Study whether an AI risk classification framework can be drawn up by analogy with the framework of the Steering Committee for Flemish Information and ICT Policy of the Flemish government
• Investigate whether AI algorithm registers, following the example of Amsterdam and Helsinki, can be introduced
• Developing a graphical template for data-driven AI, which makes it clear to users what the main implications are in terms of data

Ethical use of AI

• The resolution asks that the seven Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) be formally endorsed, implemented and applied in relationships with external (private) partners
• Furthermore, a policy framework must be developed for all entities of the Flemish government that want to use AI. The policy framework should include a human ex-ante audit of AI risks and an independent third party audit
• A check must be made of the AI applications already in use by the Flemish government
• The resolution calls for consultation with the federal government to make labour laws fit for the digital economy
• The Knowledge Centre Data & Society is asked to subject university and knowledge institution research projects on AI to an ethical review and to integrate a similar review in the assessment of R&D business projects.
• There is a request to better tune existing monitoring systems to AI and to collect figures so that the rankings on a country level can be translated to the Flemish context.