Translation of the Dutch text by Marjolein de Jong | 31 March 2026
This year's Abraham Kuyper Lecture is about authenticity. When does something feel real to you?
'I think when I feel or can empathise with the emotions of the writer or creator, but it's difficult to say anything in general about this. It's a bit like walking into a museum, liking a painting and having to explain why. It's in your body, and you find something tasty, or beautiful. My daughter is four and is now in the why phase. Yesterday we were eating chicory, and then she asked: "Why do you like chicory?" Yes, good question, I put it in my mouth and my body says: yummy.'
So do you think the question of whether something is 'real' is the right question?
'Not necessarily. I think thinking about that is typically something for people with a science background. In recent years, since the emergence of ChatGPT, I have also changed my mind about that. I find it much more important to talk about what AI is doing to us. How it is slowly but surely increasingly influencing our thinking, writing and working.'
How do you see this influence reflected in language, for example?
'Now people often still recognise a text written by AI, but what is going to happen is that this AI-like language will also end up in us, humans. Like microplastics all over your body. You get exposed to it and then you start mimicking that language, because that's how language works. So I'm afraid we'll even start using those typical AI formulations soon.'
Can you name one of the dangers of generative AI?
'The problem is that you skip all kinds of important, human processes with it. If I have students write an essay, it is not my expectation that I will get a good essay. If I want to read a good essay, I will read The New Yorker. I want their essay. I want to know where they stand and how they think.
In the process of writing such an essay, something important happens. That you think you can't do something, but do it anyway. You build self-confidence with that. If you skip that part and only have a ChatGPT-written final result, then you might be handing in something 'good' but you haven't learnt anything from it.
You also see it reflected in creativity. I heard that a teacher had his students think of all the things you can do with a coffee filter bag. Normally, the craziest ideas come out of that. But now, because they were all using AI, everyone came up with the same idea, namely a scented bag. It might feel like being creative, but actually everyone falls into the same ideas. Technology influences how we think and create, while keeping the feeling that we are thinking for ourselves.'
Suppose someone writes a piece with AI. To what extent is that person still the creator?
'As far as I am concerned, that is the wrong question. That question leaves open the possibility of saying: "I am still the creator, because I am in between and controlling it." With this question, you assume we want to use this system. On the contrary, I say: enough of that misery.'
Yet many people say that AI is not going away and that we have to learn to deal with it. How do you look at that?
'I am not naive and don't think AI is going away again. Only: relating to something can also mean not using it. I don't use it myself, and in principle we can all choose not to use it. Then we are also rid of it.
In places like education or healthcare - where precision and humanity are so important - I don't think you should want AI. And that means we have to become more critical. Also towards employers, because they play a big role in encouraging the use of AI and the pressure to produce. That pressure is part of a wider, capitalist system. It is high time to oppose both.'
