Researchers from CWI’s Evolutionary Intelligence group at Amsterdam Science Park have joined Trinitas HORIZON, a ten-year national research programme developing artificial intelligence to support diagnostic decision-making in general practice. The programme, led by UMC Utrecht and funded through NWO’s KIC initiative, brings together medical centres, universities, technology partners and patient organisations from across the Netherlands.
At the heart of CWI’s contribution is AIDE an AI-based Diagnosis Engine developed in partnership with Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC). Where most AI systems operate as black boxes, AIDE is built on symbolic and evolutionary AI models that make their reasoning transparent. GPs receive not just an outcome, but an explanation: why a referral is warranted, what a follow-up test is likely to add, and how different factors such as cost and diagnostic yield weigh against each other.
This interpretability is fundamental. In clinical settings, a system that cannot account for its recommendations will not be trusted, and should not be. AIDE is designed from the outset to keep the clinician in control.
Within the same research strand, Amsterdam UMC is contributing a complementary approach using neural networks less directly interpretable, but capable of processing large and heterogeneous datasets. Together, the two methods form a robust, multi-angle toolkit for diagnostic AI.
The clinical problem Trinitas HORIZON targets is structural. As populations age and multimorbidity increases, GPs face growing diagnostic complexity with fewer resources. Patients increasingly present with overlapping, ambiguous symptoms. The result: repeated tests, avoidable referrals, delayed diagnoses and mounting pressure on the system as a whole.
Trinitas HORIZON’s ambition is a ‘first-time-right’ diagnostic pathway one in which AI helps clinicians identify the most appropriate next step early, reducing uncertainty and accelerating access to the right care. The ten-year timeframe reflects the scale of the challenge and the depth of cross-sector collaboration required to address it.
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