Aurora AI Home Concept

Overview

Aurora AI Home was a concept design project exploring how artificial intelligence could support citizens in navigating Finnish public services more effectively. The project investigated how AI could help individuals identify relevant services, understand complex bureaucratic processes, and manage multiple life situations through a single, coherent interface.

The work focused on defining a credible and human-centered future vision for AI-enabled public services, with particular attention to privacy, trust, and inclusivity. Rather than proposing a finished product, the goal was to explore how emerging technology could responsibly improve citizen experiences across fragmented public-sector systems.

Challenge

Finnish public services are distributed across numerous organizations and platforms, requiring citizens to actively search for information and understand complex administrative structures in order to access the support they need. This fragmentation creates confusion and places a high cognitive burden on users, especially those dealing with multiple life events or limited digital literacy.

The challenge was to envision an experience that could proactively guide citizens to relevant services without compromising privacy or transparency. Any proposed solution needed to respect strict data protection requirements, operate within public-sector constraints, and remain understandable and trustworthy for a broad and diverse population.

Solution

Aurora AI Home was designed as a concept for a unified, AI-assisted public service experience that adapts to individual needs over time. The concept explored how AI could interpret user intent and context to surface relevant services, while allowing users to retain control over their data and decision-making.

The experience was designed to support multiple parallel service journeys, reflecting the reality that citizens often manage several needs simultaneously. Special attention was given to clarity, explainability, and tone, ensuring that the AI interaction felt supportive rather than opaque or authoritative. The concept was developed with a mobile-first approach and validated through user testing with young people to explore accessibility, comprehension, and trust in AI-mediated public services.

The pilot program, called Huolehtivat Nuoret ('caring youth'), was arranged within the greater Tampere area and provided an Aurora AI service layer and a digital solution to youth who are taking care of their families due to a multitude of reasons. The digital solution provided families in need with food assistance, 1:1 discussion support and other kinds of concrete social services related support.

Results

• Clear support and validation for concept and experience direction from two focus groups and two stakeholder groups
• We received good results from usability testing, showing high task success and confidence to the solution
• Pilot was conducted with under represented youth groups and provided different kinds of assistance to families in need
• Presented to government and private stakeholders with excellent reception

Team

• Kimmo Alaraudanjoki — Senior UX Designer
• Emma Halmekoski — Lead Service Designer, Project Lead
• Eeva Rahikka — Concept Designer