Finland · Public sector policy
Guidelines on using generative AI in Finnish public administration
The Ministry of Finance's 2025 guidelines on generative AI in Finnish public administration. What they ask of officials and of the organisations they work in.
The Ministry of Finance's Guidelines on using generative artificial intelligence to support and assist work in public administration, published on 20 March 2025, set the baseline for how Finnish public bodies use tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot. Officials stay fully responsible for what they produce, GenAI output must be reviewed and approved before it enters a final document, and non-public information or personal data must not go into a GenAI service unless the organisation has approved it for that purpose. The guidelines apply across public administration, and organisations can add their own more detailed rules.
What it is
The Guidelines on using generative artificial intelligence to support and assist work in public administration were published by Finland’s Ministry of Finance on 20 March 2025 as Publications of the Ministry of Finance 2025:11. An interministerial working group drafted them, and they are published in Finnish with an English version.
They apply to the use of generative AI in the activities and management of public administration. They cover using GenAI as a tool at work, not building or buying AI systems, and they say that those developing and purchasing AI systems need to look at the wider regulation more comprehensively. Organisations can write their own more detailed guidelines to supplement them.
A companion publication, Making the most of AI in Finnish central government (Publications of the Ministry of Finance 2025:33, June 2025), is a guide for central government organisational developers. It describes AI risk in the AI Act’s four tiers, sets out responsibilities and governance models, and names responsibility, sustainability and transparency as its guiding principles.
What it requires
Officials stay responsible. Public officials are without exception responsible for the decisions and documents they draft. GenAI output may not be included in a final document without the review and approval of the official accountable for the matter.
The closer to rights, the tighter the limits. The closer an official’s work is to decisions affecting people’s rights and obligations, and the more independently the AI operates, the stricter the restrictions. Simple support and background tasks allow freer use.
Open and responsible use. Public administration must use AI openly, transparently and responsibly, under the principles of good governance and the public service ethical code. Officials should report openly on their information sources, including GenAI, and check output carefully for hallucination and bias. GenAI may not be integrated into automated systems without adequate risk management and appropriate safeguards.
Protect information. Officials must not enter non-disclosable information, non-public information or personal data into a GenAI service unless their organisation has approved the service for that purpose. That includes AI note-takers in meetings, where only organisation-approved tools should be used. Cloud service policies apply to GenAI as most of it runs in the cloud.
Not a search engine. GenAI services are not information search tools. AI-generated content cannot serve as an expert source unless a human expert verifies it, though GenAI can be used to gather and summarise information and generate ideas.
Mind copyright. Output can infringe copyright even where training was lawful, so officials should assess the risk, especially for content intended for wide release, and check the service’s terms of use.
Who it applies to
The guidelines are addressed to Finnish public administration as a whole. They set the expectations a public body’s own GenAI rules are measured against, and the questions its procurement teams will ask of GenAI suppliers.
Key dates
The guidelines were published on 20 March 2025, when national legislation implementing the AI Act was still being drafted. That legislation, the Act on the Supervision of Certain AI Systems, has been in force since 1 January 2026, and the guidelines tell deployers to check they comply with it.
How it relates to other frameworks
The guidelines list the legislation that already governs AI use in Finnish public administration, including the GDPR, the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Act on Information Management in Public Administration and the Data Protection Act. Where a public body moves from assisting officials to deciding matters automatically, the binding rules on automated decision-making apply.
The guidelines refer to the EU AI Act for high-risk uses and recommend taking ISO/IEC 42001 into account in AI development and management. They sit beside the Ministry of Finance’s earlier guidelines on the ethical use of AI in public administration.
A note on this page
This is Aicura’s reading of the Ministry of Finance’s guidelines. It is not legal advice and it is not the guidelines themselves. Read the primary source and take advice on how it applies to your organisation.
Last reviewed 18 October 2026. This page explains the framework to support your governance work. It is not legal advice; read the official source for the authoritative text.
Questions
Are the guidelines binding?
They are Ministry of Finance guidance rather than legislation. The laws they point to are binding, including the GDPR, the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Act on Information Management in Public Administration and the EU AI Act. The guidelines describe how officials apply those laws when they use generative AI.
Can Finnish officials use ChatGPT or Copilot at work?
The guidelines allow GenAI for tasks such as preparing matters, searching for information, summarising and brainstorming. Officials must not enter non-disclosable or non-public information or personal data into a service unless their organisation has approved it for that purpose, and must review and approve any output before it goes into a final document.
Do the guidelines apply to suppliers?
Not directly. They are written for public administration. Suppliers of GenAI services to Finnish public bodies should expect buyers to ask whether their service can be approved for non-public information and personal data, how data is processed and stored, and how outputs can be checked.
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