Finland’s public sector must move rapidly from individual artificial intelligence pilots to large-scale deployment, according to Minister of Local and Regional Government Anna-Kaisa Ikonen.
The government aims to improve public-sector productivity by 20 percent by 2031 through AI and automation. A total of €10 million has been allocated for investments in AI agents and automation solutions in 2026–2027.
Ikonen, whose portfolio includes public administration, digitalisation and public-sector ICT, says AI tools are already being used for information searches, drafting and summarising texts and analysing large datasets.
“We encourage the use of AI, but the civil servant is always responsible for the final result and for checking it,” Ikonen says.
Confidential material or personal data should not be entered into services that have not been approved for such use, she stresses.
Finland is also developing a common AI platform for central government that is intended to enable the secure processing of material requiring a high level of information security.
“We have a strong ambition, but we are still at the beginning,” Ikonen says.
According to her, AI is still used relatively little and unevenly across central government. One current project involves developing tools to support legislative drafting, with the aim of eventually making them available to officials across all ministries.
Common platforms instead of duplicated systems
Ikonen says unnecessary duplication is a genuine problem in the public sector, where municipalities, wellbeing services counties and government agencies often develop and procure their own systems.
The answer, however, is not to force every organisation onto a single system.
“That could create a monopoly and major dependencies. We need a common foundation and common rules,” she says.
The government is therefore developing shared platforms and solutions that can be used widely across the public sector.
Ikonen also wants stronger strategic leadership. A new strategic AI steering group will bring together central government, municipalities and wellbeing services counties, supported by a change management office tasked with identifying and spreading successful solutions.
“AI is not just an issue for the IT department. Above all, it is an issue for senior management,” she says.
Another priority is interoperability. Ikonen says government systems should be able to exchange information so that citizens are not repeatedly asked to provide the same data.
Legislative barriers will also need to be removed. One area under development is the use of AI in digital advice provided by public authorities, allowing systems to generate more tailored responses from broader sets of information instead of relying only on pre-written answers.
‘The biggest risk is doing nothing’
Anna-Kaisa Ikonen identifies three priorities for the next government term: stronger strategic leadership, improving skills and retraining opportunities, and strengthening cooperation between public administration, businesses, universities and research institutes.
She says AI should be introduced with people rather than technology as the starting point.
Digital services should be easy to use, but alternatives must remain available to people who cannot or do not want to use them.
Finland has, for example, retained the option of receiving official communications on paper even as digital services are expanded.
“Changes must not be made by forcing people,” Ikonen says.
At the same time, she warns that Finland cannot allow concerns over digitalisation to prevent the development of better online services.
“The biggest risk for both Finland and the public sector would be doing nothing. If we remain at the level of experiments and pilots while the rest of the world builds new ways of working, we will miss out on the benefits precisely when we need them most.”
Ikonen notes that Finland’s public finances are under pressure while almost one in three public-sector employees is expected to retire within the next decade.
“If we do not use AI to reform services, the alternative will increasingly be to cut services,” she says.
Dependence on foreign technology a concern
Ikonen also points to risks involving security, public trust and Finland’s dependence on technology companies outside Europe.
AI is already being used in fraud, cyberattacks and influence operations, while errors or discriminatory outcomes in public-sector systems could quickly undermine public confidence.
Responsibility must therefore remain with public authorities and accountable officials even when decisions are automated, she says.
Another concern is Europe’s reliance on non-European companies for AI technologies and cloud services.
Ikonen’s ministerial working group has drawn up a roadmap for digital sovereignty, including plans to develop national AI infrastructure and computing capacity.
“Completely separating ourselves from global solutions is not realistic, but we must manage our dependencies and safeguard critical services,” Ikonen says.
“We want to use the best technologies in the world while retaining control over our own data and critical services.”
The interview was originally published in Nykypäivä 3/2026.