In 2024, the municipality of Amsterdam published two strategic documents guiding its use of AI:

• the Amsterdam Vision on AI (in EN and NL)
• the Amsterdam Agenda (in NL)

These documents were drafted together with residents. The Amsterdam Vision on AI, as the title suggests, outlines the vision of the city on how to use AI in a responsible, reliable and people-oriented way. The Amsterdam AI Agenda, includes examples and plans to illustrate how the municipality will realise its vision.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) changes a lot in citizens' daily lives and offers new opportunities for Amsterdam. For example, AI helps maintain city lighting, makes information understandable for residents in different languages and deciphers the old manuscripts from the City Archives. But the rapid development of AI also brings challenges. For example, it can cause more prejudice and is sometimes difficult to understand.

People are central

Amsterdam believes that technology should help people, not the other way around. The city wants AI to add real social value and make life better.

Realistic view of AI

In the vision, attention is paid to what AI can do but also what it cannot. AI can think logically and quickly process a lot of data. But AI also lacks things that people have, such as feelings and ethics.

Cooperation and Responsibility

To use AI properly, the city administration and the citizens need to work together. The city works with residents, businesses, knowledge institutions and other cities to use AI responsibly.

From Vision on AI to AI Agenda

The content of the Amsterdam Vision on AI has been gathered in conversations with Amsterdammers, experts and colleagues. The AI Agenda builds on the Vision on AI and contains concrete plans:

• Better collaboration and efficiency: the municipality looks at how AI can help connect with residents, manage the city and do repetitive tasks faster.
• More knowledge about AI: the city works with local organisations that offer courses to teach Amsterdammers more about AI.
• A future-proof organisation: as a municipality, the city wants to be better prepared to deal with digital changes internally. The city will set up an Expertise Team AI and AI experiments will be done in a controlled, safe environment.
• Rules and policies for AI: The city provides clear frameworks and rules for the use of AI. It also looks at sustainability, how AI tools are purchased and digital independence.
• Looking ahead: with the AI Agenda, the municipality of Amsterdam shares its ambitions for a responsible deployment of AI.