Artificial Intelligence in the Norwegian National Budget for 2024
How is AI handled in the national budget and across the departmental budget proposals for Norway in 2024?
In this article I will attempt to provide an overview of the mentions of AI-related terms across the Norwegian National Budget 2024 with consideration for the individual budget proposals from the ministries. Afterwards I will explore qualitatively statements made about artificial intelligence within the different budget proposals.
On Friday the 6th of October 2023 the Norwegian government launched the budget for the coming year and the priorities within the various departments. These documents combined are several thousand pages in length (approximately 4150), at least the ones I downloaded, so this will only be a surface-level exploration of the various mentions of artificial intelligence with some added commentary after my three years in Norwegian AI policy.
Of course the 1 billion NOK funding to AI research is perhaps the most significant news, yet I believe it is interesting to explore how the topic of AI is handled across ministries budget proposals.
You can learn more about ‘statsbudsjettet’ on Wikipedia (in Norwegian).
But first, some desk research.
Of course I do not believe we can conclude too much from counting mentions, yet it gives a snapshot of which ministries that mentions AI, ML or robotics. Also with consideration to how much they mention variations of ‘digital’ as a brief comparison. I will go into the specific statements about artificial intelligence soon.
You can find the overview of all related documents here:
Unfortunately, for some reason, it seems this information about the Norwegian budget is not available in English document formats.
Apologies on behalf of Norway.
However, you can read a general press release about the Norwegian National Budget 2024 here:
So, let’s begin this journey into the 2024 budget proposals from Norway.
1. The National Budget 2024
The national budget in Norway is a report to the Storting (the Norwegian Parliament) that is presented by the government at the same time as the state budget at the beginning of October each year.
Page 114 — new digitalisation strategy
“Regjeringen har startet arbeidet med en ny nasjonal digitaliseringsstrategi. Strategien skal blant annet stake ut kursen for videre digitalisering av offentlig sektor, legge bedre til rette for næringsrettet digitalisering og ta opp viktige samfunnsspørsmål, som blant annet kunstig intelligens. Målet er en sterkere samordning og utvikling av en helhetlig politikk som går på tvers av offentlig og privat sektor.”
So translated to English.
“The government has started work on a new national digitalisation strategy. The strategy will, among other things, set the course for further digitisation of the public sector, make better arrangements for business-oriented digitisation and address important societal issues, such as artificial intelligence. The aim is stronger coordination and development of a comprehensive policy that cuts across the public and private sectors.”
This reafirms that AI will be included in the new national Norwegian strategy for digitalisation, due at some point in 2024.
The strategy is out for public hearing and there are already several open comments with the deadline to submit to this public voice opportunity by the 30th of November 2023. You can submit your comment here:
Page 115 — participation in Digital Europe
“Norge deltar i Programmet for et Digitalt Europa 2021–2027 (DIGITAL), EUs store programsatsing for digital transformasjon og bygging av digital infrastruktur og kapasitet. Programmet skal øke konkurransedyktigheten til næringslivet, gi bedre og mer effektive løsninger for offentlig sektor og arbeide for at europeiske land er i front på fem særskilt viktige områder: tungregning og superdatamaskiner, kunstig intelligens og data, cybersikkerhet, avansert digital kompetanse og best mulig bruk av nye teknologier.”
Again, translated to English.
“Norway participates in the Program for a Digital Europe 2021–2027 (DIGITAL), the EU’s major program initiative for digital transformation and building digital infrastructure and capacity. The program aims to increase the competitiveness of businesses, provide better and more efficient solutions for the public sector and work to ensure that European countries are at the forefront in five particularly important areas: heavy computing and supercomputers, artificial intelligence and data, cyber security, advanced digital competence and the best possible use of new technologies.”
What we did not see, sadly — is a matching funding from the state of the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH). Such as, the EDIH for artificial intelligence Nemonoor.
Disclaimer: I have been leading a work package in EDIH Nemonoor. Here is an article explaining the situation in Norwegian.
As such, despite mention of the programme, conversely it does not seem like there is a clear expression in the budget for support for initiatives within the programme.
2. State Budget 2024
Norway’s state budget deals with the Norwegian government’s expenditure framework and estimated income for a calendar year.
Page 19– the Norwegian AI billion
“Regjeringen foreslår minst 1 mrd. kroner over fem år til en forsknings- og innovasjonssatsing på fremtidens databehandling — kunstig intelligens, digital sikkerhet og samfunnskonsekvenser av teknologiutviklingen.”
English:
“The government is proposing at least NOK 1 billion over five years for a research and innovation investment in the future of data processing — artificial intelligence, digital security and social consequences of technology development.”
One billion NOK will be dedicated to
AI research and innovation.
This is perhaps the biggest news, mentioned earlier in September, but now reaffirmed in the State Budget for 2024. You can read a previous press release here for more details:
3. Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion Budget Proposal 2024
To my great surprise I do not see much mention of AI in this ministry. Which I find somewhat strange, since I consider this particular ministry to be rather excellent when it comes to discussing AI, and it has a range of projects. Most prominently within the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), that luckily recieves the only brief mention.
Page 142 – Measures for 2024 within subsection for knowledge-driven services
“I 2022 ble 30 mill. kroner lyst ut innen satsingsområdet pålitelig forvaltning, og det er opprettet en portefølje med FoU-prosjekter innen tema som «brukernes rettssikkerhet», «skjønnsforvaltning i NAV», «digital velferdsforvaltning», «forvaltning av EØS-regelverk» og «bruk av kunstig intelligens som beslutningsstøtte». Et tilsvarende beløp innen satsingsområdet sosiale tjenester i NAV er planlagt lyst ut høsten 2023.”
English:
“In 2022, NOK 30 million was announced in the investment area of reliable governance, and a portfolio of R&D projects has been created within themes such as “users’ legal security”, “discretionary management in NAV”, “digital welfare management”, “management of EEA regulations “ and “use of artificial intelligence as decision support”. A corresponding amount within the social services investment area in NAV is planned to be announced in the autumn of 2023.”
You can read a fresh take on digital technologies and AI by one of the reports in NAV, considering developments in the world 2023–2035. It was written by Robindra Prabhu, a leading voice on responsible AI in Norway working within NAV:
A great exit report was also written after participation in the Norwegian AI Sandbox regarding a problem presented by NAV in 2021 on the development of an AI tool for sick leave:
4. Ministry of Children and Families Budget Proposal
AI was not mentioned in their budget proposal.
Not much to say, other than it is sad to see this topic being ignored by one of the ministries that perhaps would need to discuss it the most.
This is particularly worrying considering the scandals that was witnessed this year in Norwegian child welfare, with messages of concern regarding children being deleted before being seen. A sad tale of negligence in implementation.
A report mapping out the awareness of discrimination related to AI across the Norwegian public sector was also released earlier this year with recommendations, but it does not seem in any apparent way that these are being handled. At least not in the budget. You can read about the report on AI and discrimination (in Norwegian) here:
On the bright side 10,9 million NOK has been given to Digital ungdomsportal (DigiUng) working to serve youth across Norway.
5. Ministry of Finance Budget Proposal
Within the Ministry of Finance we find Statistics Norway (SSB) that has a mention of artificial intelligence. That makes sense, as they could be one of the competent authorities to handle certain questions related to AI if they were to focus on building further knowledge on the topic.
Page 99 — Statistics Norway believes AI will be important ahead
“Nye teknologiske løysingar vil kunne gje SSB meir avanserte analysemetodar, som òg er betre eigna for bruk når SSB tar i bruk fleire datakjelder. Kunstig intelligens byr på store moglegheiter framover, og kan gjere det enklare for brukarane å finne relevante statistikkar og få svar på spørsmål om statistikkane. Vidare vil løysingar baserte på kunstig intelligens kunne medverke til meir automatisering, effektivisering og standardisering av statistiske produksjonsprosessar og betre formidling. Slik effektivisering vil vere viktig i møte med venta, strammare økonomiske rammer i offentleg sektor framover. Samstundes inneber desse omveltingane store utfordringar, og verksemda må prioritere investeringar i mellom anna kompetanse, datalager, nye løysingar og auka tryggleik.”
English:
“New technological solutions will be able to provide Statistics Norway with more advanced analysis methods, which are also better suited for use when Statistics Norway uses several data sources. Artificial intelligence offers great opportunities in the future, and can make it easier for users to find relevant statistics and get answers to questions about the statistics. Furthermore, solutions based on artificial intelligence will be able to contribute to more automation, streamlining and standardization of statistical production processes and better communication. Such streamlining will be important in the face of the expected, tighter financial framework in the public sector in the future. At the same time, these upheavals imply major challenges, and the business must prioritize investments in, among other things, expertise, data warehouses, new solutions and increased security.”
This is both promising and necessary. There is a running joke about statistics and artificial intelligence.
However as pointed out by this article in Towards Data Science discussing this particular meme, it is not exactly true.
Still, it should not stop Statistics Norway from building up capacity to handle ML and AI questions as well as expand their research collaborations on this topic with the academic communities of Norway. It could be highly productive for knowledge-driven and informed policymaking in the years to come, as Norway depends on underlying statistics from this organisation.
Then again Yann LeCun answering to Lex Fridman in his podcast posing the question of whether AI is just statistics, says yes. But then he asks, but what kind of statistics?
Anyhow, over to defence…
6. Ministry of Defence Budget Proposal
Page 4 — Early mention of AI as a topic of high importance
“Vi må på norsk side ha et mer bevisst forhold til hva den teknologiske utviklingen betyr. Den raske utviklingen av teknologier som stordata, kunstig intelligens, autonomi, romteknologi og kvanteteknologi vil få økende betydning for norsk sikkerhet og forsvarsevne i årene som kommer.”
English:
“On the Norwegian side, we must have a more conscious relationship with what technological development means. The rapid development of technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, autonomy, space technology and quantum technology will have increasing importance for Norwegian security and defense capabilities in the years to come.”
[to be continued…]
This article will be expanded on shortly adding more ministries budget proposals.
I will update this article as I work my way through the statements from the different ministries.
This is also part of my personal project #1000daysofAI and you are reading article 515. I am writing one new article about or related to artificial intelligence for 1000 days. The first 500 days I wrote an article every day, and now from 500 to 1000 I write at a different pace. Adagio?
