Generative AI for Belgian Businesses: Opportunities and Risks

Introduction

Generative AI has transformed the business world in record time. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, generative AI tools have multiplied, and their adoption by Belgian businesses has exploded. In 2026, according to a study by Agoria, 62% of Belgian businesses use at least one generative AI tool in their daily operations, up from just 15% in 2023.

But this rapid adoption raises complex legal and ethical questions, especially since the European Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AI Act) has been progressively coming into force since 2024. Belgian businesses must navigate between the considerable opportunities these tools offer and a regulatory framework that keeps evolving.

This guide explores concrete applications of generative AI for Belgian businesses, the associated legal risks, and best practices for compliant, responsible use.

What Is Generative AI? A Refresher for Businesses

Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence systems capable of creating new content — text, images, code, audio, video — from training data. Unlike traditional AI, which analyses and classifies, generative AI produces.

The main technologies in 2026

The Belgian generative AI market in figures

• 62% of Belgian businesses use generative AI (Agoria, 2026)
• 35% of Belgian SMEs have integrated generative AI into at least one business process
• The Belgian AI market is estimated at EUR 2.3 billion in 2026
• 78% of Belgian workers use generative AI at work, 45% of them without a clear company policy (Beltug study)

Concrete Applications by Sector in Belgium

Financial services and insurance

The Belgian financial sector is one of the earliest adopters of generative AI:

• BNP Paribas Fortis: uses generative AI to analyse credit documents and generate compliance reports, cutting processing time by 60%.
• KBC: developed Kate, its AI assistant built into the banking app, able to answer customer questions in Dutch, French and English.
• AG Insurance: uses generative AI for the automated processing of claims and the generation of personalised letters.

Concrete gains: a 40-60% reduction in file-processing time, a 25% improvement in customer satisfaction, and a 35% reduction in errors.

Retail and commerce

• Colruyt Group: uses AI to optimise product descriptions, personalise offers and manage stock.
• Delhaize: rolled out AI chatbots for customer service and recipe assistance.
• bol.com (active in Belgium): automatically generates product descriptions in Dutch and French for thousands of references.

Concrete gains: a 15-25% increase in the online conversion rate and a 30% reduction in product content creation time.

Legal and accounting

• Legalfly (a Belgian start-up based in Antwerp): a generative AI platform for law firms, able to analyse contracts and draft legal submissions under Belgian law.
• Wolters Kluwer (headquartered in Mechelen): a global leader in legal information, has integrated generative AI into its legal research products.
• Accounting firms: using AI tools to automatically categorise invoices, prepare VAT returns and draft financial reports.

Concrete gains: a 50% reduction in legal research time and accounting documents processed three times faster.

Marketing and communication

• Generating multilingual marketing content (French, Dutch, German, English) tailored to Belgium's three communities
• Creating visuals for social media and advertising campaigns
• Personalising marketing emails at scale
• Drafting press releases and blog articles

Practical example: a Brussels communication agency uses Anthropic's Claude to generate first drafts of French content, then adapts them into Dutch. Production time for bilingual content has fallen from eight hours to two hours per article.

Industry and logistics

• Port of Antwerp-Bruges: uses AI to optimise logistics documentation and forecast maritime traffic.
• Solvay: uses generative AI to research chemical formulations and analyse patents.
• Barco (Kortrijk): uses AI in its design and technical documentation processes.

Public sector

• Smals: the non-profit organisation (ASBL) providing IT services to the Belgian public sector is exploring generative AI to automate administrative correspondence and support decision-making.
• Several Belgian municipalities are testing AI chatbots to answer citizens' questions about administrative procedures.

The Legal Framework: AI Act, GDPR and Belgian Law

The European AI Regulation (AI Act)

The AI Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689) is the world's first legal framework specifically regulating artificial intelligence. It has come into force progressively:

Timeline:

• February 2025: ban on AI systems presenting an unacceptable risk
• August 2025: obligations for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models, including LLMs such as GPT-4 and Claude
• August 2026: full obligations for high-risk AI systems

Risk classification:

For Belgian businesses using generative AI:
Most everyday uses (chatbots, content generation, writing assistance) fall under the limited risk category. The main obligation is transparency: informing users that they are interacting with an AI, or that content has been AI-generated.

Belgium-specific obligations

Supervisory authority: FPS Economy is designated as the national market surveillance authority for the AI Act. The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) also plays a supervisory role.

GDPR and generative AI:
Using generative AI with personal data is subject to the GDPR. Belgium's Data Protection Authority (APD) has published specific guidance:

• Legal basis: you must identify a legal basis for processing personal data through AI (consent, legitimate interest, contract performance)
• Data minimisation: only enter data that is strictly necessary into AI tools
• Transparency: inform data subjects that their data is being processed by an AI
• Right to explanation: individuals have the right to know the logic behind automated decisions that significantly affect them (Article 22 GDPR)
• Impact assessment (DPIA): mandatory before any large-scale processing of personal data by AI

Intellectual property and generative AI

This is one of the most complex topics. Under Belgian and European law:

Is AI-generated content protected by copyright?

• Under current Belgian and European law, copyright protects works resulting from the author's own intellectual creation (a natural person). Content entirely generated by AI, without significant creative human input, is therefore not eligible for copyright protection.
• However, if you use AI as a tool and make a substantial creative contribution (selection, arrangement, modification), the resulting work may be protected.

AI training data:

• Generative AI providers face lawsuits over copyright infringement in the use of training data.
• The AI Act requires providers of GPAI models to publish a summary of the training data used.
• The "text and data mining" exception (European directive 2019/790) allows data extraction for research purposes, but rights holders can opt out.

Recommendations for Belgian businesses:

• Do not use AI-generated content without reviewing and editing it
• Do not assume that generated content is free of rights
• Keep a record of your prompts and edits (evidence of creative contribution)
• Favour tools offering IP indemnification guarantees (Microsoft Copilot, Adobe Firefly)

Civil liability

Who is liable if generative AI produces content that is inaccurate, defamatory or harmful?

• The AI provider: liable for defects in the model (the European directive on liability for defective products, currently under revision)
• The business using the tool: liable for how it uses the tool and for checking the content produced
• The employee: limited liability within the scope of their employment contract

Practical advice: always put a human validation process in place before publishing or using AI-generated content. Never blindly trust the output of an AI model.

Specific Risks and How to Manage Them

Risk 1: Leakage of confidential data

The problem: when an employee enters confidential information (customer data, trade secrets, strategic plans) into a generative AI tool such as ChatGPT, that data can be used to train the model and potentially resurface in responses to other users.

In Belgium: the APD considers that entering personal data into an AI tool without a legal basis and without protective measures constitutes a GDPR breach.

Solutions:

• Use enterprise versions of tools (ChatGPT Enterprise, Microsoft Copilot for Business, Claude for Business), which contractually guarantee that your data is not used for training
• Set a clear policy listing the types of data that must never be entered into AI tools
• Deploy DLP (Data Loss Prevention) solutions to detect and block sensitive data leaks to AI tools
• Train your employees on the risks

Risk 2: Hallucinations and misinformation

Generative AI models can produce content that is factually false but plausible (hallucinations).

Examples of risk for a Belgian business:

• An AI chatbot giving incorrect information about Belgian legislation (e.g. the wrong VAT rate)
• A legal document generated with references to non-existent articles of law
• A financial report with invented figures

Solutions:

• Put in place a systematic human review process
• Use RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) to ground AI responses in your own verified data
• Add clear disclaimers stating that content may contain errors
• Regularly test the accuracy of your AI's responses

Risk 3: Bias and discrimination

AI models can reproduce or amplify the biases present in their training data.

Specific risks in Belgium:

• Discrimination in automated recruitment (banned under the AI Act if it is a high-risk system without a conformity assessment)
• Linguistic bias between French and Dutch
• Stereotypes in generated marketing images

Solutions:

• Regularly audit your AI systems' output to detect bias
• Diversify the teams configuring and overseeing AI tools
• For recruitment: never use AI as the sole decision criterion
• Document your bias detection and correction processes

Risk 4: Technology dependence

The problem: excessive reliance on a single generative AI provider creates a strategic risk.

Solutions:

• Diversify your providers (do not rely solely on ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot)
• Evaluate European open-source solutions such as Mistral (France) or Aleph Alpha (Germany)
• Keep human skills for critical tasks
• Plan for degraded-mode procedures without AI

Practical Guide: Setting Up a Generative AI Policy in Your Business

Step 1: Set up an AI committee (weeks 1-2)

Bring together the key stakeholders:

• Senior management
• Head of IT / CTO
• Head of legal / DPO
• Head of HR
• Representatives from business teams

Step 2: Map current usage (weeks 2-4)

Run an internal survey to understand:

• Which generative AI tools are employees already using?
• For what purposes?
• What kinds of data are being entered?
• What benefits and problems have been observed?

Step 3: Define the usage policy (weeks 4-6)

Draft an internal policy covering:

Approved tools:

• List of approved tools (e.g. Microsoft Copilot for Business, ChatGPT Enterprise)
• Request process for new tools
• Ban on free/personal versions for business data

Data banned from AI tools:

• Personal data belonging to customers, employees or partners
• Confidential financial information
• Trade secrets and intellectual property
• Health data
• Classified information or information protected by professional secrecy

Usage rules:

• Mandatory human review before any external use
• Disclosure of AI use where required (AI Act transparency)
• Documentation of prompts and results for critical uses
• Mandatory training before access to AI tools

Step 4: Train your teams (ongoing)

Recommended training programme:

• Introductory session (2h): what generative AI is, its risks and opportunities
• Role-specific practical workshops (4h): effective prompting, real-world use cases
• Legal training (2h): GDPR, AI Act, intellectual property
• Quarterly updates (1h): developments in tools and regulation

Step 5: Measure and adjust (ongoing)

Define KPIs to measure the impact of generative AI:

• Time saved per task
• Quality of content produced
• Employee satisfaction
• Security or compliance incidents
• ROI per use case

Costs and ROI of Generative AI for Belgian Businesses

Costs of the main solutions

Calculating ROI: a practical example

A 20-employee Brussels SME in services:

Estimated ROI: 668% (even on a conservative basis, counting only 30% of the theoretical gains, the ROI remains 130%).

Support and Funding for AI Adoption in Belgium

• AI4Belgium: a national coalition offering resources, guides and events for responsible AI adoption
• FARI (ULB-VUB): support and expertise in AI for the common good
• Digital Wallonia / business vouchers: a subsidy of up to 75% for digital transformation consulting, including AI
• VLAIO KMO-portefeuille: 20-30% support towards AI consulting and training costs
• Innoviris (Brussels): funding for AI R&D projects

Conclusion

Generative AI represents a considerable opportunity for Belgian businesses, with potential productivity gains of 20 to 40% on many tasks. But this technological revolution cannot happen without a rigorous legal and ethical framework.

Belgian businesses must take a balanced approach: embracing innovation while respecting the AI Act, the GDPR and good AI governance practice. The keys to success are training your teams, setting a clear usage policy, systematic human review, and keeping track of regulatory developments.

Belgium, with its position as a European capital and institutions such as FPS Economy, the APD and the CCB, has every resource needed to support businesses through this transition. Do not wait to structure your approach — businesses that manage to integrate generative AI responsibly will hold a decisive competitive advantage.

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This article was written by the Espero-Soft editorial team for the blog dedicated to entrepreneurs in Belgium. For support integrating generative AI into your business, contact our experts.