ING has joined a taskforce to promote the development and acceptance of artificial intelligence technology in the Netherlands, part of a national initiative to halt a brain drain of talent to AI powerhouses like the US and China.
The bank has joined forces with Ahold Delhaize, KLM, NS and Philips to form Kickstart AI. As part of the programme, ING will co-fund five AI academic positions in conjunction with Dutch universities, and actively promote a national course for AI to increase the understanding and adoption.
Kickstart AI will also undertake a series of ‘superchallenge’ initiatives that aim to address societal issues, such as health or mobility.
The bank’s chief analytics officer Görkem Köseoğlu says: “For the competitiveness for Dutch companies and the Dutch education system, we are joining forces with four other large Dutch companies to not only to work on supporting universities, start-ups and SME’s, but also to help raise awareness with the Dutch public about the opportunities and risks of AI.”
Aside from being a member of Kickstart AI, ING has also joined the National AI Coalition, whose objective is to realise a joint approach to the technology through one, national knowledge and innovation network.