FwdFaster AI – Redefining the Future with Expert-Powered AI
The Problem
Despite unlocking impressive efficiencies and reshaping how we navigate the world, the current AI paradigm’s focus on scale, speed and optimization fails to address today’s most pressing social, political, environmental and ethical challenges. Too often, long-term societal and planetary well-being are treated as secondary concerns or left out of the agenda altogether. In this dynamic, human experts are increasingly pushed into the passenger seat. Their judgment, contextual understanding and responsibility are overshadowed by systems designed to optimize for short-term performance rather than long-term public value. As a result, decisions that shape healthcare, policy, compliance, sustainability and safety risk are becoming automated without clear accountability and responsibility.
The Solution
FwdFaster AI calls for a paradigm shift in how AI systems are designed and deployed. Instead of replacing or sidelining experts, AI can strengthen their role, supporting human judgment rather than simulating it. This requires coordinated action at the European level to ensure that technological progress remains aligned with societal values, democratic principles and the public interest. By embedding AI within expert-led processes and grounding it in shared European standards and responsibilities, we can build systems and infrastructure that are not only powerful but also trustworthy, ethical and fit for long-term impact across European Member States and beyond.
Why now?
We are at a critical inflection point. An important crossroad. AI capabilities are advancing faster than the institutional frameworks, governance structures and professional practices needed to guide them responsibly and successfully. Decisions made today will shape how expertise, accountability, and public trust evolve for decades, having a great impact on society and our economy. Europe has a unique opportunity to lead, not by racing to automate everything, but by setting a global example for human-centered, expert-driven AI. The question is no longer whether AI will be integrated into high-stakes domains, but how and where. FwdFaster AI wants to ensure that this integration happens with experts firmly in the driver’s seat, exactly when it matters most.
What makes FwdFaster unique?
FwdFaster is unique because it combines advanced AI with an expert-in-the- loop approach to accelerate high-quality evidence synthesis, improving decision-making, driving innovation and validating promising solutions across a wide range of societally relevant domains. They have started this work in a large number of European projects (7) and (inter)national collaborations with companies and societal organisations. At the same time, they are building software and platform solutions to apply these learned lessons to a wider audience. For example, they conduct collaborative “Screenathon” models enabling experts and AI to rapidly screen massive volumes of scientific literature, building structured knowledge warehouses that make insights reusable and actionable over time. All rooted in open science and trustworthy AI principles.
Meet the Founders
Dr. Frans Folkvord is a behavioral and health scientist specialized in decision-making and the societal impact of technology and AI and is active in a large number of European projects. His work focuses on how digital technologies and AI systems influence human behavior, responsibility and trust, critical insights for designing AI that aligns with public values and long-term societal outcomes rather than short-term optimization. His is an associate professor at Tilburg University, a Technical Expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) and a fanatic athlete in his free time.
Prof. Dr. Rens van de Schoot is an internationally recognized methodologist and statistician, known for his work on evidence synthesis, research integrity and responsible data use. With deep experience at the intersection of science, policy and complex decision-making, he brings a rigorous perspective on how AI should support expert judgment in high-stakes domains. He is a professor on Collaborative AI at Utrecht University and a climber in his free time.
Ir. Jonathan de Bruin is an AI architect, entrepreneur and active research engineer in the open-source community. His work has made him one of the most downloaded Python developers worldwide, with a project recognized as critical infrastructure by the Python Software Foundation. He also designed ASReview LAB at Utrecht University, an open-source AI tool for literature screening. Jonathan focuses on keeping AI effective, capable and integrated into expert workflows. When not coding or researching, he enjoys inline skating at the park.
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