AI in the city of Amsterdam // Beyond Coding Podcast #47 - Patrick Akil with Maarten Sukel

Urban Accessibility

Amsterdam is leveraging AI to enhance urban accessibility, focusing on infrastructure improvements for inclusivity. Maarten Sukel explains how point cloud technology is used to map the city, identifying obstacles for wheelchair users and creating a walkability map 1. This innovative approach allows the city to measure accessibility annually and ensure progress towards inclusivity goals.

The idea is to do like a yearly measurement and see how we're progressing towards the goals we have as a city.

--- Maarten Sukel

By accurately mapping public spaces, the city can address issues like sidewalk obstructions and maintain equal accessibility across neighborhoods 2.

   

Customer Service AI

AI is transforming customer service in Amsterdam by efficiently categorizing and responding to service requests. Patrick Akil highlights the challenge of managing 400,000 requests annually, which AI helps streamline by translating human language into civil servant language 3. This system ensures that requests are directed to the appropriate departments without human intervention.

It's sort of like translating like human language to civil servant language without somebody having to do something.

--- Maarten Sukel

Additionally, Maarten discusses an NLP project that categorizes service requests, improving efficiency but also revealing biases in handling new issues 4.