Google Wanted to Create an AI Plan for Poland. We Know What's Next with the Agreement with the Polish Development Fund

• Google and the state-owned companies PFR and OChK worked for six months to examine the needs for AI development in defense and cybersecurity, energy and healthcare.
• In total, several dozen meetings were held, including with representatives of public administration.
• Conclusions? None. Although the Polish Development Fund (PFR) admits that the work is over, it has no plans for any major announcement. The fund assures that it simply wanted to create a platform for discussion.
• As we hear, the ball is now in the court of individual offices and Google.

The use of artificial intelligence in energy, cybersecurity, and health – this is the scope of the memorandum of understanding signed in mid-February by the Polish Development Fund, the National Cloud Operator, and Google. It was jointly announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

The February conference, however, sparked much controversy. The only concrete information Pichai revealed was the announcement that Google would spend $5 million on AI training in Poland over the next five years.

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Later, however, representatives of the giant clarified that it had "an appetite for billions of dollars in investments." What kind and where? This was not disclosed. Company representatives only hinted in interviews that new data centers might be involved. At the same time, Magdalena Dziewguć , head of Google Cloud in Poland, argued that the letter of intent concerns the development of an "AI plan for Poland."

This declaration outraged Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski.

Google isn't the one handling strategic thinking about Poland's development. If they want to invest in Poland, that's great, but that doesn't mean the state will give up some sovereignty in the area of ​​data management, for example. It would be like handing over military management to generals from other countries or private security companies – that's absurd," he said in an interview with WNP.

The assessment of the signed agreement was further complicated by the fact that PFR, OChK, and Google concluded it without consulting the Ministries of Digital Affairs, Defense, or Health. As we have established, Izabela Leszczyna learned about it from the invitation to the signing .

Half a year of work, dozens of workshops

Under the agreement, work continued in working groups for six months. According to PFR, dozens of workshops were held, co-organized by PFR, Google, and OChK, "with the participation of a large group of stakeholders." Who exactly participated in the work? It's unclear.

As Maciej Buczkowski from the PFR press office admits, the result of the work is "identifying opportunities and challenges in the use of cloud solutions (including artificial intelligence) in the areas of defense and cybersecurity, energy and health care."

What's next? It's up to officials and Google.

According to PFR declarations, in the coming weeks the parties to the agreement are to provide workshop participants and other stakeholders (including public administration entities) with materials summarizing the work, including reports and analyses.

We have requested access to these materials. However, the Polish Development Fund (PFR) has so far refused to publish them. "We will make a decision on whether to release the materials only after all materials have been transferred to the above-mentioned entities and after obtaining the necessary consents," Buczkowski replied.

We also wanted to receive minutes of the meetings. We were told that none were being kept.

Does the completion of the work mean that Google will now be the service provider for these sectors? We're told by the Polish Development Fund (PFR) that it's now up to individual government entities to announce tenders for their projects, and for Google to participate. No commitments regarding such actions have been signed.