Virtual municipality assistant Gem

Municipality of Leiden

The virtual assistant Gem is a digital help on the Leiden municipality website for answering questions. Via the chat button on our websites, you can talk to Gem.

Last change on 8th of September 2025, at 13:49 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Impactful algorithms
• Impact assessment: Field not filled in.
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

Organisation and business operations

Begin date

2025-09

Contact information

[e-mail]

Responsible use

Goal and impact

Understanding the resident as well as possible and helping them get the right answer. This can sometimes be a substantive or procedural answer, sometimes a referral or transfer to a (livechat) employee.

The virtual assistant is only used to provide more help by giving nationally determined answers to questions or referral to a staff member.

Considerations

The use of the chatbot GEM helps Leiden municipality to deliver reliable government information to residents in an accessible way appropriate to modern technology and service provision. As a result, residents are better informed about their rights and obligations.

Human intervention

The answers that GEM can provide are in a national library. Leiden municipality staff can change answers to fit the Leiden situation. GEM has no role in decisions, it advises residents.

Risk management

Gem is a generic application. User feedback is monitored and maintenance agreements are in place. Employees of Leiden Municipality ensure that the answers fit the situation in Leiden.

Legal basis

Providing reliable government information on products and services of the Municipality of Leiden.

Link to Processing Index

https://leiden.registervanverwerkingen.nl/details/225dab3a-1d26-4917-91a5-4f1b3fe9db76

Operations

Data

Field not filled in.

Technical design

Leiden municipality offers digital help to residents and entrepreneurs with a question. This digital help is called 'virtual assistant GEM'. Via the chat button on our websites, you can talk to GEM.

The virtual assistant uses artificial intelligence, also known as artificial intelligence (AI). AI helps GEM to better understand the query and provide the right information. Specifically, GEM uses supervised machine learning, which calculates which answer from the answer library provides the best answer to the question based on the question. Once a question cannot be answered sufficiently well, the conversation is continued by an employee. At the end of the conversation, the user can indicate whether the answer helped. The next time a person asks a similar question, the answer that helped the most is more likely to be chosen.

GEM can thus provide substantive answers to questions based on this library, as well as refer to an information page or have a staff member continue the conversation.

The answers that GEM can provide are recorded nationwide. This costs less management and radiates more unity between municipalities. If necessary, the Municipality of Leiden can adjust answers to better suit specific situations in Leiden.

External provider

Municipality of Tilburg

Link to code base

https://gitlab.com/virtuele-gemeente-assistent/gem