In this post, we explore how the City of Turku tackled the challenge of making vast amounts of data in their information management system, JoutseNet, more accessible.
The City of Turku needed to develop a user-friendly solution to make the information in the city’s information management system, JoutseNet, more easily accessible. Many organizations face a similar challenge: there is a vast amount of data, but finding the exact information or document is challenging.
The solution naturally had to ensure that the data remained in Europe in accordance with GDPR and that the data did not leak outside the organization. While services like ChatGPT can use the information fed into them for further model training, organizations can build systems based on large language models where this does not happen.
Chat Interface with AI Capabilities
ATR Soft created a Proof of Concept (PoC) level solution for Turku, a chat interface that can be asked anything about the city’s public decisions.
In the solution, we utilized Turku’s existing Oracle infrastructure to ensure data remains within Turku’s systems and is processed in compliance with security and GDPR regulations. We used the new Oracle Database 23ai, which allows AI vectors to be stored and processed directly in their native format, capturing embeddings for various types of data.
When the user poses a question, it is transformed into a vector using embedding models loaded into the database. The 23ai database allows ONNX models to be loaded directly, optimizing the transformation process.
The question vector is then used to perform a vector search within the database. The search results undergo a reranking process, improving the quality of the outcome. From these reordered results, the most relevant one is selected to form a comprehensive context.
Finally, this context, along with the user’s question and specific AI instructions, is processed by a generative AI model to formulate the final answer.
The project demonstrated that AI can significantly improve the use of the city’s information management system. The results achieved and lessons learned in the PoC phase provide a solid foundation for further development, which can create an even more efficient and user-friendly solution for the city’s needs.
Background Info
Oracle 23ai database: Oracle Database 23ai is Oracle’s latest enterprise-grade database platform, designed to integrate artificial intelligence directly into data management and application development. It introduces advanced features such as AI Vector Search, JSON Relational Duality, and in-database machine learning, enabling organizations to perform semantic search, predictive analytics, and graph-based insights within the database itself.
Retrieval-Augumented Generation (RAG): Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is an AI technique that enhances the accuracy and relevance of AI responses by combining two processes: retrieving external information and generating answers using a language model. Instead of relying solely on pre-trained data, RAG systems first search a vector database or document repository for contextually relevant information, then feed that data into a large language model (LLM) to produce grounded, fact-based responses. This approach is especially useful for organizations needing up-to-date, domain-specific answers, and it helps reduce hallucinations and misinformation in AI outputs.
Azure OpenAI: Embedding models can calculate vectors, i.e., numerical representations, for texts. Large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-3.5, can generate answers. By modifying prompts, it can be ensured that the answer is based on the provided background information, thus minimizing the model’s hallucination, i.e., the use of incorrect information.
Azure AI Search: By using a search index optimized for vector search, relevant information can be found and retrieved more accurately because the search is based on meaning and context, not just exact keywords.
The City of Turku is the largest city in Southwest Finland, the regional center of Finland Proper, and the sixth-largest municipality in Finland in terms of population.
The city develops and offers comprehensive digital services to the citizens, taking care of its statutory tasks and obligations.
“The PoC showed that using natural language and AI search can make our old records easier to find and use. This helps us move towards renewing the system.”Reijo MikkolaIT-program manager, The City of Turku
