COLUMN – It is even older than the road to Rome: the influence of oracles on the government of the country. A divine oracle that an Egyptian until Pharaoh proclaims. A Russian Tsar who consult a faith healer. It oracle of orange that had a queen in the pocket.
Times change, oracles change. The occult is pretty much gone, the quasi-scientific is gaining ground. And so now we have a minister who is inspired by the oracle De Hond.
This became apparent during yesterday’s debate in the House of Representatives, when Minister Agema was called to account for her refusal to donate mpox vaccines to Africa. In that debate a remarkable exchange of words passed by. We quote:
Mrs Paulusma (D66): (…)Now I am going to make it a bit uncomfortable. The ministry, the RIVM and a whole lot of other parties are involved in this dossier and advise the minister on it. In the meantime I read in the newspaper that Minister Agema now takes Maurice de Hond to all kinds of meetings and, in one way or another, seeks advice from him. I think it is important to know whether he played a role in this and if so, what role.”
Some misunderstanding followed….
Minister Agema: Wow, what an accusation! I … / Mrs Paulusma: Accusation? It’s a question!
Minister Agema clarified:
I find Maurice de Hond particularly inspiring when it comes to artificial intelligence. He is a pioneer in that. I invited him for an inspiration session on artificial intelligence. That was a really nice session, which also yielded a lot, also for the government program. That was it.”
Mrs Paulusma concluded the exchange of words by concluding “that Maurice de Hond had no influence on the decision-making process regarding whether or not to donate mpox vaccines.”
Minister Agema added that Maurice de Hond “gave us a lot of inspiration for a component that is very important in healthcare, namely reducing administrative time using artificial intelligence. I am very grateful to him for that. We have not had any contact about mpox.”
Because it was not the subject of the debate, no further questions were asked about the role of AI in government policy in general. And that of Maurice de Hond in particular.
You shouldn’t be surprised if the King reads a speech from the throne next week on Budget Day, created by an AI tool cobbled together by Maurice de Hond.
