Perspective Chapter: Social Innovation, Ethical Digital Services, and Personal Data in an AI Era: A Case Study from Switzerland

The Swiss platform e-rentes.ch showcases how digital tools can drive social innovation by giving individuals secure, transparent access to their pension information and personal data. Created by HES-SO Geneva (University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland), this prototype allows users to estimate retirement pensions from Switzerland’s three-pillar pension system – state, occupational, and private – in one place, without storing any personal data. Instead, it uses real-time connections to trusted sources, ensuring privacy and data control remain with the user. e-rentes.ch aims to simplify the complexity of old-age pension planning, especially for those who lack financial expertise or professional advice. e-rentes.ch has no commercial objectives (i.e., no aim to sell financial products). It empowers users to better understand their financial retirement outlook and simulate different life scenarios, fostering financial inclusion and informed decision-making. By promoting data sovereignty and usability, the platform highlights how digital services can serve the public good – respecting privacy while addressing real social needs. This case offers a model for transparent, user-centered innovation in public services. The Swiss platform e-rentes.ch is a promising example of social innovation, offering users real-time access to their old-age pension estimation while respecting privacy. However, its cautious stance on artificial intelligence (AI) raises important questions. Unlike many digital services that rush to implement AI, e-rentes.ch deliberately avoids it – for now. This restraint reflects a growing concern: AI in personal finance often lacks transparency, introduces bias, and can erode user trust. AI use would go against the e-rentes.ch objectives, which are explained later in this article. By choosing a non-AI, user-centric design, e-rentes.ch prioritizes data sovereignty, citizen empowerment, and ethical responsibility. It resists the trend of opaque algorithms making life-altering predictions based on incomplete or misunderstood data. While AI promises personalization and predictive power, it also risks turning sensitive financial planning into a black box – one where users no longer understand or control the outcomes. In this sense, e-rentes.ch serves not only as a tool for retirement pension insight but also as a critique of premature AI adoption in public digital services.