Issue Dependence on foreign tech providers and digital sovereignty

Summary

The report names heavy dependence on a small number of technology companies as one of the main concerns about AI and digitalisation. These firms are mostly American and fall outside European law, and the US CLOUD Act allows US authorities to access data of users such as Dutch government bodies, creating a real risk of breaching the GDPR. Some AI services are trained on huge datasets of unclear origin, making it hard for governments to meet their duties of care and accountability. Government services largely run on digital technology from foreign suppliers, and decisions by those suppliers, for example under geopolitical pressure, could cause outages, blockades and administrative disruption. The report holds that these threats make economic and strategic cooperation with the EU on digital sovereignty more important, while adding that this should be arranged without placing too much strain on the government's scarce capacity.