{"id":83499,"date":"2026-11-01T10:21:02","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T08:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/?p=83499"},"modified":"2026-11-01T10:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T08:21:02","slug":"ai-in-government-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richardvanhooijdonk.com\/en\/ai-in-government-netherlands\/","title":{"rendered":"AI in government: what Dutch municipalities and central government are doing now, and what the AI Act asks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In short<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dutch government is using more and more AI, mostly for internal processes, with civil servants as the users. The Dutch Algorithm Register<\/a> listed 1,613 algorithms on 31 October 2026. Yet according to the Netherlands Court of Audit, for 35 percent of central government’s AI systems in use it was unknown whether they did what they should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picture a municipal social support team in the Netherlands. In Almere, the Algorithm Register lists an AI agent meant to draft the assessment report for an application for support at home, after which the consultant checks everything. According to the registration, the agent is temporarily on hold for technical reasons. Much government AI looks like this: support for civil servants in their own work. At the same time, Dutch government has a hard lesson behind it: the childcare benefits scandal showed how badly things can go wrong when a system judges people wrongly. And the European AI legislation (the AI Act) sets extra requirements for public authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, we stick to what the Dutch central government, the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), the regulators and the European Commission write themselves. My expectation: in government, the technology is not the hardest part. What matters is that civil servants are open to AI and at the same time stay sharp on what it means for residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n