Dutch businesses embrace AI like never before
AI adoption in Dutch businesses surges to 22.7% in 2024, with text mining and natural language processing leading the way.
Published on February 27, 2025
© Matheus Bertelli - Pexels
Team IO+ selects and features the most important news stories on innovation and technology, carefully curated by our editors.
Data published by the Dutch statistics portal CBS reveals that in 2024, 22.7% of Dutch businesses employing 10 or more individuals incorporated AI technologies, marking a significant rise of almost 9% from 2023. This shift is highlighted by notable increases in the use of text mining and natural language generation, with the latter tripling its usage compared to the previous year. Larger enterprises lead the charge, with 59.2% of companies with over 500 employees embracing AI, compared to just 17.8% of smaller firms.
The Information and Communication sector exhibited the most substantial growth, with AI usage soaring from 37% to 58% within a year. Yet, challenges such as a 'lack of experience' and privacy concerns hinder wider adoption, particularly among smaller companies. This trend places the Netherlands 6th among EU nations in AI integration, as businesses recognize AI's potential to enhance efficiency and innovation.
Sector-specific implementation
The surge in AI adoption has manifested differently across various sectors of the Dutch economy. The information and communication sector leads with an impressive 58% adoption rate in 2024, while professional and financial services have also grown substantially. Professional and scientific services increased their AI implementation from 24.8% to 39.8%, while financial services grew from 27.4% to 37.4%. This sectoral variation reflects the diverse applications of AI technologies across different business needs.
The NOS reports that Dutch companies are finding innovative ways to implement AI in their operations. For instance, flower grower Deliflor demonstrates practical AI application in agriculture, using the technology to predict chrysanthemum offspring characteristics and evaluate breed quality. In the insurance sector, companies like a.s.r. are leveraging AI for customer service enhancement, using the technology to transcribe and summarize customer conversations automatically. The adoption of text analysis software in office environments has seen a dramatic increase, with usage growing 2.5 times in 2024 compared to the previous year.
GPT-NL in the making: a language model based on Dutch law
With GPT-NL, the Netherlands has its own language model starting this year.
Size-based AI adoption patterns
A clear correlation exists between company size and AI adoption rates. While 67.6% of companies with 100 or more employees have integrated AI technology by 2025, smaller businesses face more significant hurdles. The disparity is particularly evident in companies with 10-19 employees, where AI adoption stands at just 17.8%. This gap is attributed to larger companies' ability to plan long-term investments and achieve economies of scale that make AI implementation more cost-effective.
The Netherlands' AI adoption trend aligns with broader European patterns, where companies are increasingly embracing AI-driven technologies for workflow optimization. According to a recent report by the EU statistics portal Eurostat, in 2024, 13.5% of companies with ten or more employees used AI. Looking forward, generative AI is expected to boost European labor productivity by 3% annually through 2030, suggesting continued growth in AI adoption across Dutch businesses.
.png&w=828&q=75)
AI usage soars in European companies
AI usage is soaring in European businesses, which increasingly use AI-driven technologies to optimize their workflows.