Grüne on digital affairs

The Greens want to help Berlin companies use artificial intelligence, but attach conditions. Productivity gains should also benefit employees, and AI systems should be tested for discrimination before they are used in sensitive areas.

The Greens want to help companies use AI. AI means artificial intelligence. Workers should also benefit from it. AI must not treat people unfairly, for example in job applications. So the systems should be tested first.

As examples of how employees could share in the gains, the platform names shorter working hours without a pay cut or better working conditions. In hiring and performance reviews, AI systems are to be used only after passing a test and under strict conditions. Companies should use the technology safely and with low resource consumption. The Greens also want to promote domestic and European systems to reduce dependence on providers outside Europe.

The Greens want to move schools and universities step by step to European, open-source and public-interest software. This is meant to reduce dependence on providers outside Europe and strengthen data protection. University IT security is also to be improved.

Schools and universities often use software from companies outside Europe. The Greens want to change that. They want open software from Europe. Anyone can inspect and check open software. University computers should also become safer.

The switch is to take place with the Zentrum für Digitale Souveränität der Öffentlichen Verwaltung (ZenDiS, the center for digital sovereignty in public administration) and within the national research data infrastructure and European AI research. Education and research software paid for with public money is to have open code. Media literacy, AI understanding and digital sovereignty are to become a fixed part of curricula. University administration is to get open-source programs and a single central campus management system. For IT security, mandatory minimum standards, regular tests and a statewide incident response structure are planned.

The Greens want to strengthen Berlin's data protection commissioner and extend her powers to the security agencies. To that end, the EU's Law Enforcement Directive is to be fully implemented, including sanctioning powers. IT procedures are to safeguard privacy.

The Greens want to protect personal data better. Berlin's data protection commissioner should get more rights. She should also be allowed to check the police and other security agencies. She should be able to impose penalties for violations.

The program justifies this with the growing importance of data protection as all areas of society go digital. IT procedures are to be designed so that the right to informational self-determination is secured. The EU's Law Enforcement Directive governs the protection of personal data in policing and criminal justice; the party calls its implementation overdue. The top data protection authority is to be able to impose sanctions.

The Greens want to give priority to digitalizing the justice system. Now that electronic case files have been introduced, workflows and organization are to be adapted and digital assistance systems used to relieve staff. In court proceedings, a human being is always to make the final decision.

The courts should work more digitally. Computer programs should help with the work. This should take pressure off judges. But a human should always decide in the end. There should be Wi-Fi everywhere in the courts.

Workflows, the tasks of the different professions and the organization are to be adapted to electronic case files and in part fundamentally reformed. Digital research and assistance tools are meant to standardize processes and relieve judges, prosecutors and judicial officers. A space concept for courts and prosecutors' offices is planned that combines green renovation with more efficient use of floor space. More virtual courtrooms are also to be set up, and Wi-Fi is to be available throughout.

The Greens want dealings with public offices to work without hunting for appointments, waiting in line or confusing forms. They plan a digital citizens' office, a Berlin app with all administrative services and a service portal organized by life situations. An independent digital council is to advise the Senate.

The Greens want to make dealing with public offices easier. There should be a citizens' office online. It offers advice by video and plain language. A Berlin app should bundle all public services. People who need help can also get it in person.

The digital citizens' office is to offer video consultations, plain language, digital assistants, accessible mobile use and real-time status updates on applications. The service portal is to be organized around life situations such as moving, a birth or a need for care rather than around agency responsibilities. Existing solutions from other states, the federal government or the EU are to take priority over in-house development, and every service is to be checked for automation potential. City Wi-Fi and transparency and data portals are also to become part of everyday life. A digital council with equal representation of experts from civil society, academia, the administration, business and the tech community is to be set up. Help with applications is also to be available in neighborhood centers, care support centers and mobile citizens' offices.

The Greens want to complete Berlin's Digital Act and enshrine in it a right to communicate digitally with the administration. State software contracts are to be awarded only to open-source projects. The law is also to include standards for accessibility and open data.

The Greens want to finish a digital law for Berlin. Everyone should have the right to contact public offices digitally. Berlin should only order open-source software. With open source, anyone can look at the program code. The administration should publish its data on its own initiative.

The law is to form the basis for further digitalization of the administration. It is to include binding standards for digital accessibility, priority for open source, digital sovereignty and proactive publication of public data. The federal Onlinezugangsgesetz (Online Access Act) is to be carried over into state law. A digital connexity principle is to ensure that whoever assigns digital tasks also pays for them. Under the "once only" principle, residents should have to provide information just one time where possible; for this the party wants closer cooperation with the federal government and other states.

The Greens want to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the administration by law. The rules are to guard against risks such as structural discrimination and uphold data protection. Decisions about people are always to be made by people.

Artificial intelligence can take work off the administration. But the Greens also see dangers. AI can treat people unfairly. So a law should regulate how it is used. In the end, a human should always decide.

The platform sees AI as a way to make processes faster and simpler. At the same time it names considerable risks, above all structural discrimination. The planned legal basis is to take precautions against risks, take the technology's limits into account and comply with data protection principles. AI systems from Germany or Europe are to be preferred, ideally open source.

The Greens want to reduce the administration's dependence on US and Chinese technology corporations. To do so, the state-owned ITDZ Berlin is to be expanded into a platform provider, and open source is to take priority over proprietary software. Data protection and security are to apply from the outset in all software development.

Berlin's administration uses a lot of technology from big US and Chinese companies. The Greens want to depend on them less. The state's IT center should grow and offer its own platforms. Open software should come first. Data should be well protected and encrypted.

In the platform's view, dependence on large technology corporations endangers the ability to act and democracy. It names building European cloud, AI and digital infrastructure, sovereignty criteria in procurement and public funding for open, secure solutions. Data and licenses are to be in public hands. At the ITDZ, responsibilities, project management and technical implementation are to be strengthened. Data minimization, end-to-end encryption, local data storage and accessibility are to be mandatory. Access to personal data is to be logged and viewable by the people concerned.