Nordea and Aalto University to explore the future of AI and human-machine interaction

Our everyday lives were transformed when the web and applications became available on mobile phones. In the near future, a profound revolution is taking place as AI can understand a persons’ life and context in multiple dimensions, and AI technology evolves into agents that act on behalf of humans, e.g., in shopping, healthcare, and banking. The collaboration between Nordea and Aalto University focuses on a question that is becoming increasingly relevant to everyday life: how can customers choose digital assistants they trust and how those assistants can act in their best interest when managing everyday decisions? 

‘Trust is fundamental in everything we do at Nordea. As AI becomes part of everyday life, our responsibility is to ensure that new technologies genuinely improve customers’ experiences, protect their interests and make banking simpler, safer and more personal. Working with Aalto University helps us explore these technologies responsibly, combining academic insight with real world customer needs,’ says Heikki Henttu, Head of Group Technology Strategy and AI in Nordea. 

Together Nordea and Aalto University will launch the Future Interfaces Lab. The Future Interfaces Lab is an applied research platform that connects students, researchers, and corporate partners to explore and experiment with the latest technologies at the interface between humans and machines.

Nordea is a founding partner in the initiative, contributing expertise, talent and funding. The collaboration includes joint research projects, new courses and hands‑on development. This work will combine academic research with practical application, with a strong focus on real customer use cases and future banking experiences.

‘Nordea as a financial services institution is the perfect founding partner for the Future Interfaces Lab. The collaboration provides Aalto University with an opportunity to combine our research and teaching to solve practical and societal problems around AI, where the topics of agency, trust and maintaining a human touch are central,’ says Jens Schmidt, Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Aalto University. 

The Nordics needs to strengthen its AI competitiveness 

The partnership aims to strengthen the Nordic’s long‑term competitiveness in AI‑enabled services and invites additional partners to complement the Future interfaces Lab.

‘Providing hands on opportunities in developing students’ skills is an important element of the partnership. Finland, the Nordics and the entire Europe needs to strengthen its AI capabilities to ensure we remain competitive internationally. This is where Nordea as a Nordic financial institution wants to play a significant role, and ensure that the best talents are working towards developing banking services that are more intuitive, secure and valuable for our customers’, says Heikki Henttu from Nordea.