Artificial intelligence
The AuroraAI national artificial intelligence programme begins – with the aim of using artificial intelligence to bring people and services together in a better way

On 6 February 2020, the Ministry of Finance launched the AuroraAI programme. Continuing until the end of 2022, the programme lays the foundation for using artificial intelligence to bring services and people together in a better way.

The AuroraAI programme creates the prerequisites for smoother service use in different situations and life-events. In other words, it reduces the amount of time spent running from one place to another. The programme will also improve the functional and technical possibilities for cooperation between public administration and other sectors in addition to strengthening the ethical use of artificial intelligence as part of public services provision and operating models.

“The core idea of the AuroraAI programme involves proactively offering services to people according to their own life-events. This is something new and unique. AuroraAI helps service users and service providers find each other. It also produces savings for the entire national economy by improving the cost-efficiency of services,” states Permanent Under-Secretary Päivi Nerg.

AuroraAI will be developed on the basis of people’s real life-events

The task in AuroraAI is to develop an operating model for arranging public administration activities to support people in different life situations and events so that services provided by organisations function seamlessly between service providers in different sectors.

The model will be supported by development of the AuroraAI network, which will enable the technical prerequisites for interaction and interoperability between services functioning on different platforms. The AuroraAI network serves as an interactive link between services provided by public administration organisations and the services of other sectors. The AuroraAI network will be available to people and organisations for use in selected life-events by the end of 2022

The programme also involves building a competence and capabilities development entity to support operating model development during the programme period, and implementation of the model in the future.

“The AuroraAI programme is being developed via concrete life-events. This will be achieved by using snapshots to examine life from the human perspective: a person who is about to go through a certain life-event – such as changing jobs – will automatically be offered public, private and third sector services to proactively support the transition from one job to another without a separate period of unemployment,” comments Programme Manager Ira Alanko from AuroraAI.

The programme is based on open networking

The AuroraAI programme is based on open, cross-sectoral networking. In order to facilitate the work, an AuroraAI cooperation group will be set up as well as implementation support teams around different themes. The organisations participating in the programme will jointly improve technology and digitalisation capabilities in the public sector and develop cooperation between the public and private sectors in accordance with the government programme.

This year’s scheduling objectives for AuroraAI include developing the first version of the operating model and releasing the first beta version of the AuroraAI network for utilisation by people and organisations.

The AuroraAI programme is based on Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s government programme, according to which Finland wants to be recognised as a technology development pioneer that enhances and implements the opportunities created by digitalisation and technology advances across administrative and sectoral boundaries. As derived from the government programme, the aim of the AuroraAI programme is to use the AuroraAI network to facilitate smoother functioning of everyday life and business in a data-secure and ethically sustainable manner.

Inquiries:

Programme Manager Ira Alanko, tel. +358 (0)2955 30353, ira.alanko(at)vm.fi