A spring day in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on April 8. The Dutch government intends to lose roughly 15% of its civil servants to save €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) a year from 2035. | REUTERS

The Dutch government’s artificial intelligence-led efficiency drive to cut 25,000 civil servant jobs is perhaps the most ambitious government plan yet to use technology to reduce the state’s payroll. Making it work — and rolling out similar programs in other countries — could prove tricky.

The Netherlands intends to lose roughly 15% of its civil servants to save €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) a year from 2035, the government said Monday. Police and defense are among the exempted areas, while ministries, inspectorates and implementing agencies could see headcount reductions of as much as 60%.

Translated to the U.S., that would mean about 150,000 job cuts, calculations show.…