The brain drain of students and researchers also affects Dutch universities. Professors point out that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find doctoral students to conduct research. Companies lure students with high salaries and pleasant working conditions.
But why is this really bad? Frank Van Harmelen, professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Virginia, fears, among other things, that European values are at risk.
European seal on privacy
“All the social networks we use come from America,” says Van Harmelen. “So, in Europe, we can only use American services, whereas here we have completely different ideas about data and privacy.” NOS with an eye on tomorrow. “If you want to leave your mark on these kind of values, you also have to work on the technology associated with them.
To keep up with the competition, Europe must create a high-quality scientific institute, according to more than 150 researchers. To this end, they want to create CLAIRE (Consortium of Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratories in Europe).
According to Holger Höss, professor of machine learning at Leiden University and one of the three initiators of CLAIRE, it would be bad if the brain drain continues. “We will use artificial intelligence on a very large scale. But should this technology be used if it comes only from China or the United States? I am not sure that the focus there is on the responsible use that we in Europe believe is necessary.”
Arbitrage
A high-level European scientific institute could counterbalance the brain drain to the United States. The initiators see the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which has global respect for nuclear research, as an example of this. “Physicists have succeeded at what the AI community seems to be bad at: working as a community and going public,” Hoss says.
