Finnish grocery chain K-Supermarket lays claim to AI powered recipe ideas focused out of home first

K-Supermarket is piloting a talking AI assistant on digital billboards across three cities in Finland. Passersby can walk up, speak, and get personalised recipe ideas.

It is launching what is claimed to be the world’s first interactive public digital display that holds a two-way voice conversation with passersby. The animated “Lil’ shop assistant” appears on shopping mall out-of-home screens in Helsinki, Lappeenranta, and Tampere, ready to suggest recipe ideas tailored to each person’s wishes.

While conversational screens have appeared in limited trials in parts of Asia and at select US events, this is the first known deployment in an open public space, with a voice driven AI assistant embedded in existing digital outdoor advertising infrastructure.

“We want to make everyday cooking easier in all kinds of ways and now we’re piloting a completely new kind of assistant to help with that. We’re genuinely excited to be part of developing this groundbreaking technology that offers real, tangible value in people’s daily lives,” says Milla Sorsakivi, Marketing Director at K-Supermarket.

The assistant is live in its first three locations: Kamppi Shopping Centre in Helsinki, IsoKristiina Shopping Centre in Lappeenranta and Ratina Shopping Centre in Tampere. The screens are operated in partnership with out-of-home media companies Bauer Media Outdoor and Ocean Outdoor.

Speech travels from a microphone directly to an AI model, which processes the input and responds in spoken language with zero keyboard interaction required. Behind the scenes, a curated recipe database feeds the model, allowing it to surface relevant suggestions on the fly. Users can save their recipes with a QR code scan.

The technical implementation is the work of Interactive Inuits, a Finnish digital innovation studio.

“This project is concrete proof that out-of-home screens can be two-way and genuinely useful, not just attention-seeking. When a screen can answer questions, make recommendations, and help with decisions, it stops being an advertising screen and becomes a service point,” says Sampo Pihlaja, Head of Digital at Interactive Inuits, a part of SipuliGroup.

The developers say the biggest challenge has been making the interaction feel natural, ensuring that a public screen conversation doesn’t feel robotic or awkward, but instead fluid enough that any passerby feels comfortable engaging with it.

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

AI will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.