Industrial Research Unit · Straits Institute for Applied AI
Applied AI in Belgium
Belgium's record is led by hospitals and banks — UZ Gent runs 30 AI projects and 67% of financial firms use generative AI in claims — under the National Convergence Plan agreed in October 2022.
AI readiness
0.67
Rank 26 of 171 — IMF AI Preparedness Index
On the record
34
entries across 8 industries
National programme
2022
National Convergence Plan for the Development of Artificial Intelligence
Your essential monthly update on Applied AI, with Belgium specially tracked.
Services 71.2% · Industry 18.6% · Agriculture 0.7% of gross value added — World Bank, 2025
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Narrow the 34 entries from Belgium by what it is, the industry and the job it changes.
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34 entries
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Evidence of adoptionGovernment & Public SectorBelgium23 Sep 2026
A fifth of Belgian MPs' written questions are fully AI-generated
Belgian federal parliament — Het Nieuwsblad put 491 recent Dutch-language written questions from MPs through the AI detector Pangram, rating 22.5% fully and 20.4% partly machine-written, a measure of AI in parliament. Ministers' replies scored 7.7% for some AI authorship, and a 2022 control set came out wholly human. The detector's accuracy behind these AI-drafted questions figures goes unassessed.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium16 Sep 2026
Belgium's digital minister circulates a draft national AI strategy
Federal Government of Belgium (Minister Vanessa Matz) — Vanessa Matz, the federal modernisation minister, has handed a draft national AI strategy to cabinet colleagues and the federated entities. Belgium AI policy must now win over coalition partners and regions before this proposed national framework gets adopted.
DeploymentGovernment & Public SectorBelgium10 Sep 2026
Flanders will watch its nature reserves for fire with AI cameras
Agency for Nature and Forests (Flanders) — Flanders' Agency for Nature and Forests says it will put cameras over protected land whose artificial intelligence reads the picture and picks out a rising plume of smoke. Validation runs through 2026 in North Limburg and other representative sites, with live trials this autumn and a staged roll-out from 2027 giving reserves AI wildfire detection. Minister Jo Brouns was blunt: every minute counts once a blaze starts, and early fire detection is the best chance of containing it.
DeploymentGovernment & Public SectorBelgium3 Sep 2026
Ghent police put an AI chatbot on their website
Politie Gent — Politie Gent's new AI chatbot in policing answers residents 24 hours a day on the force's site, following months of trials. It greets visitors as the Ghent force's assistant, handling routine queries so officers, per the force, gain more room for genuine face-to-face contact — part of a wider shift toward AI in law enforcement.
Evidence of adoptionGovernment & Public SectorBelgium18 Dec 2025
Flemish government launches AI literacy framework for civil servants
Digitaal Vlaanderen (Flemish Government) — Belgium's Digitaal Vlaanderen built an AI literacy framework using five AI personas, showing local and Flemish civil servants which duties and skills each role needs. UNESCO co-developed the tool, which meets the EU AI Act's public-sector AI competence mandate and points staff toward linked training courses.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium11 Sep 2025
Circular banning the DeepSeek AI system in federal government services
Minister for Government Modernisation — Belgium's DeepSeek AI ban takes effect 1 December 2025 federally, ordered by the Minister for Government Modernisation. Belgian civil servants must delete DeepSeek applications and stop running them. Cybersecurity concerns drove the DeepSeek AI system prohibition: a June 2025 review by the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium found troubling patterns in how the Chinese chatbot handles transmitted data.
DeploymentGovernment & Public SectorBelgium3 Sep 2025
Belgian tax authorities to deploy AI for tax return checks
Federal Public Service Finance (FOD Financiën) — Belgium's Federal Public Service Finance will apply AI tax return checks to Belgian company and individual filings, Finance Minister Jan Jambon said. Trials precede a wider launch, with AI-based tax compliance screening bound by privacy law and the EU AI Act. Figures and a start date are unspecified.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium11 Jul 2025
Forty federal agencies sign Belgian charter for responsible government AI
Belgian Federal Government — Belgium's federal government now runs on a shared ethics code: forty public organisations back the new Charter for Responsible AI Use in Government Services, a project Minister Vanessa Matz put forward. Fairness, transparency and human oversight anchor the rules guiding artificial intelligence rollout across federal government AI. The framework aims to steer how public sector artificial intelligence gets used nationwide.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium31 Jan 2025
Belgium designates BIPT as lead AI Act market surveillance authority
Belgian Federal Government — The Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications now holds the AI Act market surveillance authority role, fixed by the Government Declaration and reaffirmed in the 2025-2029 Federal Government Agreement. This AI Act enforcement authority spreads fundamental-rights supervision across twenty-one bodies under Article 77, the highest count among EU member states.
DeploymentGovernment & Public SectorBelgium24 Jan 2025
Flemish government to give 10,000 civil servants Microsoft Copilot access
Flemish Government — Flanders will hand 10,000 Flemish civil servants and local staff Microsoft Copilot licences under Europe's biggest public sector Copilot deal. Prime Minister Matthias Diependaele sealed the four-year pact at Davos, betting on quicker paperwork and admin tasks via AI-assisted government services, part of Belgium's push toward wider public-sector AI adoption.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium19 Sep 2024
Guidance on artificial intelligence systems and the GDPR
Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA/GBA) — Belgium's Belgian Data Protection Authority released a 23-page brochure on 19 September 2024 under Belgium AI regulation, mapping how the EU AI Act meshes with the GDPR to guide AI compliance frameworks. Titled "Artificial Intelligence Systems and the GDPR - A Data Protection Perspective", it shows where core privacy duties like openness, fair processing, lawful basis, minimal data use, limited purpose and accountability now stretch to cover AI systems, plus fresh or heavier obligations placed on providers and deployers handling personal information.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium25 May 2024
Royal decree establishing a steering committee on artificial intelligence
Federal Public Service Policy and Support (BOSA) / Federal Public Service Economy — A Royal Decree created a Steering Committee on Artificial Intelligence (Sturingscomité inzake artificiële intelligentie) within the Federal Public Service Policy and Support and the Federal Public Service Economy, advising the federal government on Belgium AI policy. The body is the sole federal contact point for AI governance, draws members from several ministries, regions, universities, the National Labour Council, BIPT, the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium and the language communities, and convenes at least three times yearly.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium22 Mar 2024
Flanders artificial intelligence policy plan 2024-2028
Government of Flanders — Belgium's Flanders region has locked in five more years of funding under the Vlaams Beleidsplan Artificiële Intelligentie (Flanders AI Policy Plan), approved 22 March 2024 and covering 2024-2028. Money splits three ways: 14.185 million euros yearly for core research via the Flanders AI Research Programme, backing for firms adopting AI tools, plus ethics, legal and skills work run by the Knowledge Centre Data & Society and Flemish AI Academy. Total spend across the Belgium AI strategy lands near 34 million euros a year.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium4 Oct 2023
Royal decree establishing an advisory committee on ethics for data and AI
Federal Public Service Policy and Support (BOSA) — Belgium's Raadgevend Comité Ethiek inzake Data en Artificiële Intelligentie (Advisory Committee on Ethics for Data and Artificial Intelligence), created by Royal Decree on 4 October 2023, shapes AI policy in government federally. Five experts on renewable five-year terms advise ministers on AI systems and data-driven technology, weighing rights, privacy, dignity and non-discrimination. This AI ethics in the public sector guidance is non-binding.
RegulationGovernment & Public SectorBelgium28 Oct 2022
National convergence plan for the development of artificial intelligence
Council of Ministers / Federal Public Service Policy and Support (BOSA) — The Belgian Council of Ministers adopted the National Convergence Plan for the Development of Artificial Intelligence on 28 October 2022, launching SmartAI.Nation. This Belgium AI policy rests on nine strands: trustworthy AI, cybersecurity, competitiveness, a data-driven economy, healthcare uses, sustainable mobility, environmental safeguards, lifelong learning and upgraded public services. It remains the federal blueprint for AI governance frameworks.
Evidence of impactLegal & Professional ServicesBelgium1 Jul 2026
Flemish bar presidents report rising AI-written complaints against lawyers
College van Toezicht of the Flemish bar (stafhouders of the Vlaamse balies) — Bar presidents (stafhouders) across Flanders receive more grievances against lawyers drafted wholly or partly with AI, per the Flemish bar's College van Toezicht annual report, and these AI-generated complaints often cite inapplicable, non-existent or Dutch rules. Longer filings slow handling. From 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025 opened disciplinary files reached 426, up from 268, with 266 dismissed and 39 sent to the disciplinary council; presidents want shared AI-grievance guidance, not filing hurdles.
Evidence of impactLegal & Professional ServicesBelgium9 Apr 2026
Antwerp appeal court raises costs award over chaotic AI-drafted pleadings
Hof van beroep Antwerpen (Antwerp Court of Appeal) — The Hof van beroep Antwerpen (Antwerp Court of Appeal) granted a higher rechtsplegingsvergoeding (procedural indemnity) on 25 March 2026, finding one party's AI-drafted submissions had made the litigation disorderly, with ever-moving facts and legal bases. That AI misuse in litigation needlessly complicated the dispute. A recent Raad van State decision, cited beside it, holds that machine drafting cannot replace a lawyer's professional assessment.
DeploymentLegal & Professional ServicesBelgium2 Apr 2026
ALTIUS moves Legora from pilot to firm-wide rollout
ALTIUS — ALTIUS is extending Legora firm-wide to lawyers and support staff after a pilot and a review of more than 15 products. General manager Valerie Struye wanted learning to start now. Managing associate Bregt Raus helped bring national legal sources into the legal AI tool.
Evidence of adoptionLegal & Professional ServicesBelgium15 Jan 2026
55.2% of Belgian lawyers use AI tools, Wolters Kluwer benchmark finds
Wolters Kluwer — Wolters Kluwer's Benchmarkrapport Advocatuur 2026 puts lawyer AI use in Belgium at 55.2%, drawing on 134 sole practitioners and small to mid-sized firms. Independent advocates trail, with AI adoption absent for 46.8% of them.
DeploymentLegal & Professional ServicesBelgium2025-09
Belgian law firm Interius moves to Innoverius legal AI suite
Interius Advocaten — Interius Advocaten scrapped its former systems for Innoverius, a Belgian legal AI suite built by Gert Loterman on Odoo, Microsoft 365 and OpenAI. Document drafting, case management and billing now run through this single legal practice management tool. Interius is the first firm using it.
DeploymentLegal & Professional ServicesBelgium4 Sep 2025
PwC Belgium launches Belgian tax-trained AI assistant with Harvey
PwC Belgium — PwC Belgium has given every tax professional access to an AI tax assistant, the Tax AI Assistant, built with Harvey and trained specifically on Belgian case law and legislation. Rather than producing generic output, the tool drafts tax content tailored to domestic regulatory requirements. The rollout forms part of a broader ambition to position the firm as a leader in generative AI for tax advisory within professional services.
DeploymentLegal & Professional ServicesBelgium12 Jun 2025
Belgian law firm Quinz integrates Legora AI across all practice groups
Quinz — Quinz, a Belgian firm, applies AI in legal practice, rolling out Legora's platform for firm-wide document review, search and summarisation. Teams scanned over 300 Belgian Supreme Court rulings against tight deadlines and shrank a competition-probe review from weeks to days via AI-assisted legal research.
RegulationLegal & Professional ServicesBelgium31 Jan 2025
Belgian bar associations issue AI guidelines for lawyers
Orde van Vlaamse Balies and Ordre des Barreaux Francophones et Germanophone — Avocats.be and the OVB, Belgium's French-speaking and Flemish bar associations, issued joint rules on AI for legal work, treating such tools as optional rather than banned or compulsory. Lawyers must verify machine-generated outputs, protect client confidentiality, pseudonymise personal data, and stay fully accountable for finished work product. The framework leaves adoption of AI in legal practice to individual judgement while fixing firm duties on verification and data handling.
Carrefour Belgium takes grocery orders through an AI assistant inside ChatGPT.
DeploymentRetail & ConsumerBelgium1 Oct 2026
Colruyt's Boir launches Babette, an AI sommelier
Colruyt Group (Boir) — Colruyt Group's drinks webshop Boir introduced Babette, an AI sommelier choosing from nearly 2,000 products by budget, occasion or taste. Customer service and sommeliers take tricky questions.
Carrefour Belgium trials AI shopping trolleys in Waterloo
Carrefour Belgium — Two Waterloo sites, a hypermarket and a franchised Carrefour Market, mark Carrefour Belgium's rollout of AI shopping trolleys. Smart carts for grocery shopping, built from Instacart's Caper Cart, detect products on contact and weigh loose produce automatically.
Carrefour Belgium launches an AI shopping assistant inside ChatGPT
Carrefour Belgium — Carrefour Belgium has launched an AI shopping assistant inside ChatGPT, built with Mealz.ai, that places grocery orders, checks stock and draws up shopping lists. It proposes priced meal plans, remembers dietary preferences and connects to the Carrefour Bonus Card, with home delivery or in-store pickup, following Carrefour France's earlier launch.
Colruyt Group launches AI-powered Smart Cart for customers in Halle
Colruyt Group — Halle shoppers can trial the AI-powered self-scanning shopping trolley, Smart Cart, now live at Colruyt Group's Lowest Prices branch, built in-house with EXPRESSO. Sensors and onboard processing let customers ring up goods and pay as they browse, an AI self-checkout cart retail approach that skips the till queue. A linked Smart Scale weighs loose produce with over 98% accuracy, and Colruyt calls itself the first Belgian chain to offer such a trolley.
Carrefour Belgium opens third AI-powered autonomous store at Nato base
Carrefour Belgium — Carrefour Belgium runs a 24/7 checkout-free AI retail store at the Nato SHAPE base near Mons, Casteau — its biggest BuyBye micro-store yet, third overall, with 12 smart entrances. Built with Reckon.ai, cameras and weight sensors spot what shoppers take and charge them on exit, no tills needed. Over 250 daily goods fill the shelves, growing Carrefour's cashier-less shopping network.
67% of Belgian financial institutions are deploying generative AI in claims processing.
Evidence of adoptionFinance & InsuranceBelgium18 Jun 2026
Belgian financial firms move generative AI into claims and underwriting
FinTech Belgium, Sailpeak and Vlerick Business School — The third AI Barometer from FinTech Belgium, Sailpeak and Vlerick Business School sees generative AI in financial services reaching Belgian core processes beyond coding and customer service. 67% deploy it in claims processing and 46% in KYC/ALM, 64% pilot it in underwriting, and institutions seeking positive AI returns rose from 47% in 2025 to 75% in 2026.
KBC Asset Management rolls out AI across investment management
KBC Asset Management — Algorithms now steer portfolio choices at KBC Asset Management in Belgium, marking a shift in AI investment management from support tool to primary driver. Machine-learning systems trained over several years scan markets and companies at scale, generating data-driven insights the investment committee acts on directly rather than merely reviewing. Final accountability still sits with people applying artificial intelligence in fund management, not the software itself.
Proximus — Proximus runs its AI Energy Box system across 44 sites in Belgium, trimming power draw and lifting renewable output through AI-powered energy management. Companion.energy, a Belgian startup, paired a digital twin with live market feeds so signals steer cooling gear and batteries toward greener consumption. A 2024 trial came first.
UZ Gent has a full-time AI manager steering at least 30 projects, from stroke CT reading to breast screening.
DeploymentHealthcare & Life SciencesBelgium27 Feb 2026
UZ Gent runs 30 AI projects under Flanders' first hospital AI manager
UZ Gent — Ghent University Hospital has appointed the first full-time AI manager at a Flemish hospital to run at least 30 hospital AI projects, live or planned. In live use, AI locates the clot on CT scans in suspected stroke, replaces one of the two doctors reading each breast-screening scan, and does pre-surgical tissue-structure marking in minutes rather than hours. A doctor always has the final say, and the hospital discloses whenever an AI tool was used.
Proximus NXT deploys AI platform to support B2B account managers
Proximus NXT — Proximus NXT, the B2B arm of Proximus, has rolled out uman, an AI platform for AI in B2B sales that supports account managers handling complex deals. The system pulls together relevant documents, product details and client background so meeting preparation takes minutes instead of hours, while also helping with follow-up work. Using AI-assisted account management, Proximus NXT reports the tool cuts preparation workload substantially and boosts cross-selling by making it simpler for staff to pitch products outside their usual range.
De Lijn trials AI driver assistance on Antwerp trams
De Lijn — Ghent-based firm Otiv engineered the tool now running on Antwerp trams for De Lijn, aiming to cut collisions by 20 per cent. Cameras and sensors flag hazards and alert drivers, an early rollout of AI driver assistance at the Flemish public transport company, working much like a digital co-pilot. Drivers involved wear biometric monitors so researchers can track shifts in alertness and workload.
Your essential monthly update on Applied AI, with Belgium specially tracked
We research and keep track of applied AI globally. Belgium's record gained 1 entry in October. Your next dispatch will open with Belgium, then the most important news about how AI is being used, applied and regulated globally.
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Method and sources
Every entry on this page is a named organisation putting AI to work in a real job, taken from the State of Applied AI record. Each one is traced to the report it came from and dated, and where a figure is the organisation’s own the entry says so rather than presenting it as an independent result. Readiness, ecosystem and policy figures, where shown, are attributed on the card to the body that published them.
The record is maintained continuously by the Industrial Research Unit of the Straits Institute for Applied AI: entries are added as they are found and verified, not on a schedule, and nothing is published without an open source behind it. It currently holds 4731 entries across 249 countries.
Belgium23 Sep 2026
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