Following the establishment of country’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy, Estonia has detailed its strategic plan for the promotion of the use of AI in the public and private sector. Estonia is currently seen as a pioneer in converting public services into eGovernment solutions for its citizens: 99% of all public services are available online. The application of advanced technologies such as AI is essential for the offering of digital governmental services in Estonia. From 2019 to 2021, the Estonian government invests more the €10 million in order to further implement its AI Strategy.
Key in the development of AI Strategy is KrattAI: a strategic vision of how public services should digitally work in the age of AI. It defines opportunities for citizens to use public services by voice-based interaction with AI-based virtual assistants from any device. It is a network of public and private sector AI applications (agents, bots, assistants, etc) that works - from the user perspective - as a single channel for accessing public services. The solution makes digital public services easier accessible for people. Estonia aims to have at least 50 AI solutions deployed by the end of 2020.
Relatively new is the chatbot Suve, It was created in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suve can interact with free form human speech and it provides answers from official sources to COVID-19 related questions. The AI fuelled chatbot is integrated into official public websites. Suve is targeted at Estonian citizens and visitors and provides information in English, Estonian, and Russian.
Another example is the AI fuelled analysis of satellite data by the Ministry of Agriculture to verify if farmers are eligible for EU funding. To be eligible, farmers need to cut their fields regularly and this verification used to require a personal check on the ground. This activity is now replaced by AI fuelled image analyses of satellite data.
The implementation of Artificial Intelligence has supported the Estonian government to increase the user-centricity of its services, to improve the process of data analysis, and to be more efficient.
The Advanced Technology for Industry (ATI) project has recently published its Technology report on Artificial Intelligence. This report provides an overview of the market potential of AI, novel use cases, sustainability impacts and policy implications. More information about the ATI project can be found here: https://ati.ec.europa.eu/