About us

The Legal AI Rules & Regulations ('Legal AIR') knowledge platform is going to contribute to ensuring that Artificial Intelligence ('AI') can be applied in practice, respecting laws, regulations and ethical values. To this end, Legal AIR will 'translate' the often abstract knowledge, best practices, guidelines on AI into practice. And through Legal AIR, parties who have concrete questions about legal and ethical aspects of AI can find experts who can answer these questions. Legal AIR gives 'air' to AI projects.

So with this project, we want to do the following:

1. Investigate what the questions of organisations, companies and governments are and what their needs are.
2. Set up a knowledge platform where these questions are answered, where knowledge can be found (knowledge base, events, experts) and where needs are met.
3. Through better access to this information, Dutch organisations, companies and governments will dare to seize more AI opportunities.

To achieve this, we will make the knowledge and experts accessible to citizens, governments, companies and knowledge institutions. Everyone dealing with AI should eventually be able to easily find answers to legal and ethical questions about AI.

There is currently a lot of uncertainty about the legal and ethical aspects of AI. There are many questions with no easy answers. As a result, organisations (corporate lawyers) see many risks and are reluctant to seize opportunities presented by AI. Many 'bears on the road' are seen. As a result, acceptance of AI by companies and governments is still (too) low. While the answers are often already available, they are written down for and by lawyers. In addition, they are scattered across the websites of, among others, governments, industry organisations and knowledge institutions. It is easy to get lost in this. That is why Legal AIR sets up a knowledge platform where all this information becomes accessible to everyone.

With legal AIR and the platform, we focus on the whole of society, i.e. governments, companies, citizens and knowledge institutions.

For citizens, we want to be a place where they can find understandable information about their legal questions, such as their rights and obligations. Furthermore, our goal is also to let them ask questions and give them the opportunities to invoke their rights.

For governments, we want to make information available that answers their questions and can help decision-makers. We also want to let them ask questions and provide access to model documents.

For companies, we want to make sure they understand the real issues and start AI projects with a clear idea of the risks. We also want to give them access to model documents and to experts to whom they can ask questions. We also want to share knowledge on questions about, among other things, (IP) protection of algorithms, trained models, data (sets) and codes of conduct.

For knowledge institutions, we want to ensure that they can share their research and bring it to the attention of governments and companies. In addition, the platform will feature questions worth investigating. We also want to give students the opportunity to participate in the platform and thus contribute to their education.

LegalAIR's Advisory Board consists of:

Jaap van den Herik: Emeritus professor of Computer Science and Law at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Law. His main task is chairing the Board of Directors of the Leiden Centre of Data Science (LCDS).

Leon Kester: Senior Research Scientist at TNO on AI(XR) Strategy, AI(XR) Safety, AI(XR) Meta-ethics, AI(XR) Governance.

Wim Kees Janssen: Founder and CEO of Syntho.

BG.legal is a full-service law firm with offices in Den Bosch, Eindhoven and Tilburg. The Eindhoven branch can be found at the Brainport Industries Campus; the factory of the future.
Some of its lawyers specialise in the legal aspects of data. This includes advising on opportunities, rights and risks in 'data driven' projects (e.g. AI, blockchain) and drafting or reviewing agreements on this topic.

BG.legal will focus on developing the knowledge base, translating 'abstract' standards and guidelines into practice, creating model documents and answering legal questions on the platform.

In a complex world where data is growing exponentially, TwentyNext helps organisations create value from data with the right methods and techniques and make relevant information available at the right time. This enables organisations to make better decisions, gain more control and improve results. This creates a world where AI is made reliable, transparent and accessible to all organisations.
TwentyNext will focus on building the platform itself and also pre-feeding it with AI to make information more accessible. It will also use its experience with AI projects to answer questions and provide advice on the approach and risks of these projects.

A grant was given for this project by the Stimuleringsfonds Metropoolregio Eindhoven (MRE) in June 2020. This fund consists partly of funds from Metropoolregio Eindhoven and partly of a contribution from the provincial Subsidy Scheme Economy and Innovation. The project aligns with SME's Technology and Innovation and Knowledge Transfer focus areas and focuses on demonstrable added value through the use of innovative methods and techniques and strengthening the competitive position of regional companies. Its advisory group gave a positive opinion and said: 'Legal issues can be a stumbling block in developing/deploying AI solutions. Reducing this barrier will benefit the regional ecosystem.'

The province of Noord-Brabant contributes to the Stimuleringsfonds of the MRE via the Subsidy scheme Economy and Innovation.

The Dutch AI Coalition (NL AIC) is involved with LegalAir.