Finland lets citizens set the rules for AI in public services

Led by innovation fund Sitra, in collaboration with technology consultancy Reaktor, the initiative aims to produce a technical rulebook for AI in the public sector. Uniquely, it begins not with experts or officials, but with the people who will be most affected by these systems.

This citizen-driven approach reflects growing international concern over transparency, fairness and accountability in AI deployment – particularly in areas such as healthcare, welfare and education, where automated decisions can have significant consequences.

“We all should be able to participate in the development of public services that affect our lives. AI touches everyone in one way or another and influences our everyday lives,” said Marko Aalto, director of AI and Data at Reaktor. “It is a cross-cutting technology that is increasingly being integrated into public services.”

Guiding AI development

Participants are invited to respond to a series of structured prompts and open-ended questions via the Voxit platform. These cover topics such as fairness in automated decisions, how transparent AI systems should be, and when human oversight is essential.

Once the consultation concludes at the end of September 2025, the results will be analysed and translated into a rulebook designed to guide AI development, procurement and use across Finnish public administration. From training data selection to explainability and redress, the aim is to establish citizen-backed standards that can be embedded directly into future AI systems.

The consultation builds on Finland’s broader efforts to democratise AI understanding. Reaktor’s earlier collaboration with the University of Helsinki, the Elements of AI course, has already introduced millions of people around the world to the fundamentals of artificial intelligence.

“We want to familiarise people with the tools that are used to create artificial intelligence systems,” Teemu Roos, professor of computer science at the University of Helsinki, said at the time. “That way people can be part of this societal change instead of simply having to adapt to what the technology elite are doing.”