AI support can make public information more accessible to a wider audience

In many ways, digitalisation has made it easier for information to flow between local authorities and residents. These days, we no longer need to keep track of paper forms for applying for a nursery place or leaflets stating when rubbish is collected – all that information is available on the local authority’s website.

However, accessing information can be challenging for people with intellectual disabilities. A report by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority titled "Swedes with Disabilities and the Internet 2025" shows that people with disabilities find it significantly more difficult to use the internet than others. Many experience recurring problems when searching for information, navigating websites, and understanding content. The report concludes that digital services are often poorly adapted to users’ needs, which leads to lower uptake of essential public services and reduced participation in society.

Jönköping Municipality has been addressing this issue actively for several years. In 2025, the Social Services Department appointed Fredrik Härnström as a support teacher specialising in digital development and inclusion within the disability support division. He is responsible for training and assisting both residents and staff in using digital tools to make everyday life easier for people with intellectual disabilities.

– Under the Social Services Act, we must ensure that everyone who needs support receives it so they can live like other residents of the municipality. Our work with RISE has been about taking steps in that direction, says Fredrik Härnström.

User-driven service design: a winning formula.

Jönköping Municipality has collaborated with Skellefteå and Gothenburg municipalities on a Vinnova-funded project with RISE. The aim of the project was to develop a prototype AI support tool for people with intellectual disabilities. This involves a chatbot designed to act as an accessibility filter for public information. Using generative AI, users will be able to have text read aloud to them, or have it simplified or explained using visual aids.

The target group was involved from an early stage. Fredrik Härnström, a former teacher at a special needs upper secondary school who is now in regular contact with Jönköping’s day centres, had no difficulty finding a dozen people willing to take part in the project.

– During the first round of interviews, we asked the participants how they currently use the internet. We asked them how they search for information and what they find challenging. One question was about how often they visit the local council’s website. I suppose only a handful of them had actually visited it; it wasn’t exactly the most popular website, says Fredrik Härnström, chuckling.

The secure RISE platform provided a solid foundation for the prototype

Jonas Ek, project manager at RISE, provides further insight into the technology behind the prototype.

– We have developed a core platform called RISE GPT. It is a language model platform with essentially the same functions as ChatGPT, except that no information is stored outside Sweden or Europe. RISE GPT serves as a learning environment for local authorities, regions, and government agencies that are part of our AI partnership, explains Jonas Ek.

– We also used this platform as the basis for the project in collaboration with Jönköping, Skellefteå and Gothenburg. We also opted to work with RAG technology. This involves gathering information — in this case, data on day-to-day activities in the municipality of Skellefteå — and storing it on a server that the AI tool can search. While this technology reduces the risk of "hallucinations", the responses can sometimes be too narrow or dry. It was a challenge we had to work hard to overcome.

Another challenge was that the target group was as diverse as any other. Some were highly experienced app users who wanted the tool to offer a full range of options. Others just wanted a single button. The local authorities developed personas based on these different needs. (A persona is a fictional yet realistic profile of an individual who represents a typical target group or target group segment.) With these in mind, the developers created a 'prompt-Lego' system comprising various Lego bricks (instructions for the AI) that could be combined to customise the presentation of information to different users.

– Once we had a prototype to test, we visited the participants in our day-to-day activities again. That’s when a number of bugs and problems came to light, which proved useful for the next stage, says Fredrik Härnström.

Relevant experience in the public sector as a whole

The project's primary aim was to learn from working inclusively with AI tools for people with disabilities, rather than to produce a finished application. Jönköping, Skellefteå and Gothenburg have gained a deeper understanding of generative AI and how AI tools can be developed iteratively. They have also learned what to consider when drawing up specifications for the procurement of AI solutions. These experiences could also benefit other local authorities.

The prototype that has been developed can now be refined further by each local authority to create a fully-fledged support tool. Jonas Ek explains that the project and prototype presentations given at various trade fairs have generated significant interest. This bodes well for the project’s future.

– We can see that there are good opportunities to develop this work further. I believe that, as AI becomes an integral part of standard business systems, we will see a "ketchup effect" across Sweden’s local authorities in the future, with more local authorities taking part in this kind of collaboration, says Jonas Ek.