News – March 2025

Municipalities are facing the challenge of organising social security both more efficiently and in line with human values. Responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) can help them provide proactive, fair and transparent services. But how do you ensure that AI is used in an ethically responsible way and fosters a human-centric approach?

To answer these questions, TU Delft Digital Ethics Centre and Digicampus are starting an extensive two-year research project to investigate the role of AI within social security services provided by municipalities. This research brings together municipalities, citizens and experts to determine which values should play a central role in the development and implementation of AI within municipal social security. The public values that will be investigated are the ones that are at stake when, for example, AI is used to help people find work, for debt counselling, and for fraud detection. The ultimate goal is to create concrete guidelines that help applying AI in a way that ensures a human centric approach while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of municipal social security.

Collaboration between science, government and society

The research project will be executed in close collaboration with the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) and other parties involved. The start is scheduled for June 2025.

Dr. Stefan Buijsman, Managing Director of the TU Delft Digital Ethics Centre, who is leading the project together with Professor of GovTech Dr. Nitesh Bharosa, emphasizes the importance of this research: “The labor shortage in the public sector calls for innovation. AI can play a vital role there. At the same time, this must be done in a responsible manner, together with public professionals, and in line with human values. This project focuses on developing best practices with which AI can contribute to fair, transparent and effective social security.”

In addition to Buijsman and Bharosa, PhD candidate Antonia Sattlegger of TU Delft Digicampus also worked on the design of this innovative project. Digicampus is committed to digital public services that meet the needs of society, by bringing government, industry, science and citizens together around three societal missions: more control for citizens, making it easier to interact with the government and making the government a stronger data partner.

Design for Values: from ethics to practical guidelines

To ensure that AI is used in a responsible way within social security, the Design for Values methodology is used. This means that:

• Empirical research is carried out on the current use and impact of AI;
• Conceptual research is carried out to further define the human-centred approach when providing these services and to develop assessment frameworks;
• Socio-technical design research is carried out to identify best practices.

In this way, the project aims to come to best practices and to an assessment framework that can be used when formulating design requirements.

This research is funded by Institute Gak. Institute Gak is a foundation that contributes to the quality of social security and the labour market in the Netherlands by financing social projects, research, endowed chairs and lectorates. More information can be found on www.instituutgak.nl.

Learn more

For questions and additional information about this project, please contact:

Helma Dokkum, Innovation Manager Design for Values & Digital Ethics, TU Delft Innovation & Impact Center.

Email: W.M.Dokkum@tudelft.nl Phone: 06-31310299