1001 Smart Cities
🇳🇱 Amsterdam

Amsterdam Algorithm Register

🤖 AI-generated summary of the sources below · 🔎 Last verified · ◆ 12 sourced claims, none individually verified yet

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

Amsterdam and Helsinki launched public registers listing municipal algorithms and AI systems — covering purpose, data sources, and governance — on 28 September 2020, among the first city-level registers of their kind. Filling it proved far harder than opening it: the register held six algorithms in September 2021 and still six at the end of 2022, twelve by the end of June 2023 and twenty-nine by late September 2023, against a plan to describe sixty fully and a hundred in outline by the end of that year. Amsterdam's court of audit judged the register a positive contribution to transparency whose own goals were only partly met, and found its depth uneven: it carries no source code as a rule, and says nothing about whether using a given algorithm is justified at all. The standalone register merged into the Dutch national Algorithm Register on 1 January 2025, which now lists 81 Amsterdam algorithms.

Completed 📅 2020–2025 🤖 Uses AI
Outcome📉 Scaled back
Evidence📊 Independent
what does this mean?The strongest source is an independent non-academic evaluation: an audit office, a government or EU review, or an NGO. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byCity of Amsterdam
Scale🏙️ City-wide

📊 Impact

Six algorithms were listed in September 2021 and still six at the end of 2022; twelve by the end of June 2023 and twenty-nine by late September 2023, when the English version carried four. The plan set in November 2022 was sixty algorithms fully described and a hundred outlined by the end of 2023. The city's own account of the pace was six weeks to four months per algorithm, because each description takes several drafts and sign-off from the director who owns it.

🎓 Lesson

Opening a register is a week's work; keeping the promise behind it is permanent. Amsterdam built the disclosure surface early and its court of audit called the result an instrument the city could use to meet its statutory duty to explain automated decisions — then three years passed in which the expensive parts were deciding what counts as an algorithm at all and clearing every description with the director who owns it.

🏛️ GovernanceArtificial intelligenceDigital governmentOpen data

Sources

↗ TheNextWeb (independent press)Published 28 September 202028 September 2020 joint launch with Helsinki.
↗ Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)Chapter 2.8.1, 'Algoritmeregister positief voor transparantie, doelen beperkt bereikt'. Carries the counts per date, the November 2022 plan of sixty/one hundred, and the finding that the register holds no source code as a rule and no statement on whether an algorithm's use is justified.
↗ Digitale Overheid (Dutch government, authority)1 January 2025 merger into the national Algorithm Register.
↗ Algoritmes.overheid.nl (official national register)Current listing of Amsterdam's 81 published algorithm entries.
Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 12 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence Passport · public beta 12 addressable claims, 4 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 12

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-33f92a32555d7a56 quantitative
Amsterdam and Helsinki launched public registers listing municipal algorithms and AI systems — covering purpose, data sources, and governance — on 28 September 2020
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
TheNextWeb reported the joint Amsterdam–Helsinki launch of the AI registers on 28 September 2020; the audit report states the Amsterdam register has been online since that date.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. TheNextWeb (independent press)
  2. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Claim 2 clm-89d5a3e22ebcac76 descriptive
among the first city-level registers of their kind
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
TheNextWeb framed the two cities as the first to launch such registers. The entry deliberately says 'among the first' rather than 'the first' — no source establishes a global ordering.
Caveat
A press framing, not a systematic survey of what other cities had published by 2020.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. TheNextWeb (independent press)
Claim 3 clm-7beee3b149d5b105 quantitative
the register held six algorithms in September 2021 and still six at the end of 2022, twelve by the end of June 2023 and twenty-nine by late September 2023
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The audit office records six algorithms in September 2021, the count stuck at six through 2022 despite a recommendation from the data protection officer, twelve at the end of June 2023 and twenty-nine in the Dutch version at the end of September 2023.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Claim 4 clm-16e591d87b0ae8f7 descriptive
against a plan to describe sixty fully and a hundred in outline by the end of that year
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
In November 2022 the administration intended to have sixty algorithms fully (maximally transparently) described and a hundred described in general terms by the end of 2023.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Claim 5 clm-fb8bf35cfd51ecdc descriptive
Amsterdam's court of audit judged the register a positive contribution to transparency whose own goals were only partly met
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
This is the audit office's own section heading for its assessment of the register: positive for transparency, goals only partly achieved.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Claim 6 clm-3edb2cf78e7a940d descriptive
it carries no source code as a rule, and says nothing about whether using a given algorithm is justified at all
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The audit office found the register generally contains no source code (available via GitHub links in two cases), and contains no information on whether deploying an algorithm is justified in the first place.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Claim 7 clm-e530b25d56bce490 quantitative
The standalone register merged into the Dutch national Algorithm Register on 1 January 2025
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The Dutch government's Digitale Overheid records the merger of the Amsterdam register into the national Algorithm Register on 1 January 2025.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Digitale Overheid (Dutch government, authority)
Claim 8 clm-98ec0d45fee0d153 quantitative
which now lists 81 Amsterdam algorithms
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The national register's organisation page for the Gemeente Amsterdam lists 81 published algorithm entries.
Caveat
A live count on the national register; it moves as entries are added or withdrawn.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Algoritmes.overheid.nl (official national register)
Claim 9 clm-37f96a4e92e84ca6 quantitative
Six algorithms were listed in September 2021 and still six at the end of 2022; twelve by the end of June 2023 and twenty-nine by late September 2023, when the English version carried four
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The audit office's figure 2.5 traces the count from six (September 2021) through the 2022 standstill to twenty-nine at the end of September 2023; the English-language version held four at that moment.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Claim 10 clm-8d67b36e238e8fbf quantitative
The plan set in November 2022 was sixty algorithms fully described and a hundred outlined by the end of 2023
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Recorded by the audit office as the administration's own November 2022 ambition; in January 2023 the responsible alderman separately promised about thirty published in the first quarter of 2023.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Claim 11 clm-f92e4f9c52fe4ea9 descriptive
six weeks to four months per algorithm, because each description takes several drafts and sign-off from the director who owns it
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The alderman for ICT and Digital City gave six weeks to four months per algorithm; officials interviewed confirmed that describing an algorithm always needs several drafting rounds and that the approval process by the line owners takes considerable time.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Claim 12 clm-336f282d7da5769f descriptive
its court of audit called the result an instrument the city could use to meet its statutory duty to explain automated decisions
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The audit office called the register an instrument with which the executive could meet its information obligations on algorithms arising from the GDPR and administrative law — phrased as a possibility, not as a duty already discharged.
Caveat
The report says the register could serve that purpose ('zou kunnen voldoen'), not that the city has thereby met the obligation.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-24-audit-office-correction effective 2026-08-24 · created 2026-08-24

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:8cc0a4e19c5fcb0ad9a8bef3de9f4149e841140675da841f8485488918cb61ed
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
12
of 12 claims mapped
4
source dossiers
3
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
City of Amsterdam
Actor types
city-government
Funding model
public
Funding description
Not recorded
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

4 source dossiers

TheNextWeb (independent press) thenextweb.com · 2 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-b7982ff6398162ad
Publisher
Name not classified · thenextweb.com
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2020-09-28
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-24
Dossier created
2026-08-24
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

28 September 2020 joint launch with Helsinki.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Rekenkamer Amsterdam — Onderzoeksrapport Algoritmen (20 October 2023) publicaties.rekenkamer.amsterdam.nl · 9 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-27b3e33a814136f9
Publisher
Name not classified · publicaties.rekenkamer.amsterdam.nl
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2023-10-20
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-24
Dossier created
2026-08-24
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Chapter 2.8.1, 'Algoritmeregister positief voor transparantie, doelen beperkt bereikt'. Carries the counts per date, the November 2022 plan of sixty/one hundred, and the finding that the register holds no source code as a rule and no statement on whether an algorithm's use is justified.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Digitale Overheid (Dutch government, authority) digitaleoverheid.nl · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-c1d8988da7bcdee6
Publisher
Name not classified · digitaleoverheid.nl
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-01-01
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-24
Dossier created
2026-08-24
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

1 January 2025 merger into the national Algorithm Register.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Algoritmes.overheid.nl (official national register) algoritmes.overheid.nl · 1 linked claim

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-eb5445685ad17b5d
Publisher
Name not classified · algoritmes.overheid.nl
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-24
Dossier created
2026-08-24
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Current listing of Amsterdam's 81 published algorithm entries.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this passport
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇳🇱 Amsterdam Public-Space Sensor Register · Amsterdam Launched a year apart, this register and the Sensor Register share one instinct: disclose the machinery, don't hide it. 🇳🇱 Signalen: Open-Source Public-Space Reporting Platform · Amsterdam Signalen's own report-routing classifier is exactly the kind of system this register was built to disclose. 🇪🇸 DECODE — Citizen-Owned Data Ecosystem · Barcelona Two data-sovereignty moves: Amsterdam opened its algorithm register (2020); Barcelona's DECODE tested citizen-owned data (2017-19).

Explore the wider context

💸 The Price Nobody Publishes🤖 Artificial intelligence guide🏙️ Amsterdam city profile🏛️ Governance projects📖 Open data📖 Urban data platform (UDP)📖 Adaptive traffic signals
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Amsterdam Algorithm Register” — Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/amsterdam-algorithm-register/ (last verified 2026-08-24). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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