Prime Minister Michal: Estonia to become first country to create digital identities for AI agents

Prime Minister Michal says that Estonia has the opportunity to shape one of the standards of the next digital age. "In the future, AI will increasingly carry out digital tasks on our behalf, compiling reports, preparing declarations or interacting with information systems," he explained. "To that end, it must be clear who is acting on whose behalf with what rights, and who is ultimately responsible."

Granting digital identities to AI agents means that such an agent acting on behalf of a person or company can be given limited and controllable powers. This will help to prevent situations where individuals or organisations are required to grant AI assistants access to all of their rights, services and data. For example, it must be possible to specify whether an AI agent may only view data, prepare a document, draw up a payment or act solely within a specific financial limit.

"The success of Estonia's digital state was built on trust," the head of government noted. "Digital identities, the X-Road, digital signatures and footprints have made our country faster, simpler and more secure. Now that we find ourselves in the age of AI agents, we are faced with the same question: how can we use that technology in a way that makes life easier but without losing control and accountability? If we act quickly, and smartly, Estonia will become the first country in the world to create official digital identities for AI agents."

Opportunities for testing physical AI and dual-use technologies were also discussed during the meeting. One potential initiative presented during the discussions was the 'Merepesa' concept, which aims to establish a testing environment in the Gulf of Finland and the wider Baltic Sea region for testing air and water drones. At present, organising open-sea trials is a costly and time-consuming undertaking for developers which involves a lot of red tape, since the testing facilities and the conditions for their use are not sufficiently clear. 'Merepesa' offers an opportunity to test unmanned systems in the air, on the water and underwater simultaneously. Since the Baltic Sea region offers few internationally accessible open-sea testing facilities, such a solution could give Estonia a regional advantage in the development of drones, the defence industry and autonomous systems.

In the course of the meeting, the advisory board was also given an overview of the launch of projects approved in April. Analyses, market consultations, tenders and partnerships are currently being prepared in a number of areas with a view to moving from initial concept proposals to practical solutions and pilot projects. The 'Most AI-Savvy Nation' initiative, which aims to foster the population's AI skills, has made the most progress. Its pilot phase ran from April to June and comprised 35 practical workshops in six Estonian cities, attended by approximately 1200 people. The lessons learnt in the pilot phase will be used to prepare for the next phase, which aims to have 10,000 workshop participants by the end of the year and to launch a wider network of trainers, partners and short courses.

The LLM Leaderboard of the Institute of the Estonian Language (IEL) was also outlined to the advisory board at the meeting. It assesses the quality of large language models in Estonian, their knowledge of the Estonian cultural sphere and their resistance to propaganda. According to the IEL, Estonian-language AI does not and will not evolve on its own: the quality of the models is inconsistent; simpler and cheaper models often perform less well in Estonian; and the use of unsuitable models could heighten the risk of misleading information being disseminated. The IEL is of the view that it is not enough to simply adopt the technology: Estonia must also play a part in the development of Estonian-language AI, primarily by ensuring the availability of high-quality pre- and post-training data. From the perspective of Eesti.ai, it is important that the public sector, educational institutions, businesses and individuals are able to make informed choices about which models to use in which situations, and that Estonian language and culture are not left to chance in the development of AI. For more information on the Estonian LLM Leaderboard, see moodupuu.eki.ee.

Communication Unit, Government Office