Idea featured: Adaptieve Intelligentie voor iedereen, by Mattijn van Hoek and Ton Botterhuis

Can AI help democratise science?
In this episode, we listen to our first Impossible Project Idea: “Adaptieve Intelligentie voor iedereen” by Mattijn van Hoek and Ton Botterhuis.
We discuss how emerging technologies could transform who creates, accesses, and benefits from scientific knowledge. Centered on a proposal that envisions an AI-driven platform for open, collective knowledge-making, we discuss who research is really for, how current funding systems limit participation, and what it would take to make science truly public.

This episode discusses what it means to democratize expertise, and how this might bridge the gap between research and community needs. It explores how we can move from knowledge production to knowledge use and action: when do we know enough to start action? How can evolving technologies make our ability to “know” and act upon knowledge accessible beyond academia and how might this shift the role of researchers?
The discussion reflects on how science can move from observation to participation, and how institutions like KIN and NWO might create space for research that begins not with answers, but with staying with what we don’t yet know.

*While the idea is presented in Dutch, the discussion is in English.

Host: Alex Szwaj
Speakers: Mattijs Taanman and Kornelia Dimitrova

Relevant connections mentioned in this episode:
Designing Democracy (Foundation We Are): www.foundationweare.org/news/designing-democracy/