Rain Lõhmus: A New Generation of Winners Is Growing Up with AI

LHV co-founder Rain Lõhmus believes that the rapid development of artificial intelligence will bring about a new generation of winners, those who know how to use technology wisely. In his view, the question is no longer which AI tool to choose, but whether companies and people dare to experiment or hold back progress with excessive caution. "AI is a super opportunity, especially for younger people," says Lõhmus. "Those who know how to use it wisely will determine the future's winners."

AI as an everyday tool

Lõhmus uses AI every day and describes himself as a curious experimenter. "I'm interested in knowing where the current boundary of technology runs," he says. "I spend around 600 to 1,000 euros a month on different services to understand what the best of today's models can do."

In one of his hobby projects, he is working on a future financial institution user interface that allows making transactions through voice commands. For example, he has tested a system where you can say in Estonian: "I want to buy a hundred Baidu shares," and the agent asks back whether to execute at market or limit price. "Right now I prefer responses as text, because the Estonian synthetic voice is still weak and reading text is faster. But speaking is more convenient than typing," he adds.

"Right now I prefer responses as text, because the Estonian synthetic voice is still weak and reading text is faster. But speaking is more convenient than typing."

AI also helps him analyze personal financial data. "When my bank claimed I had suspiciously large internet purchases, I asked my agent to compare the last week to the 6-month average. Within seconds, the overview was ready, and it turned out there was nothing unusual," says Lõhmus. Similarly, he can ask how much the bank has earned from his currency exchange fees. "It's just data slicing, processing, and fast inference. It really is that simple."

The future of banking: human contact becomes a luxury

Lõhmus sees a fundamental shift in banking over the coming years. "I'm radical on this, but I think the value of a human in customer service will significantly diminish. We're already quite close to the point where a model delivers a better result than an average employee, according to a neutral evaluator," he says.

In his view, the interaction between human and computer will also change: instead of clicking through menus, we will simply say what we want, via text or voice. "If you want to be served by a human, that's already a private banking matter, because someone has to pay for it," he adds.

He considers report and overview generation self-evident, while viewing machine learning as a much broader field than just large language models. "Large language models are not models of the world, but models of the world as written down by humans," he quotes computer science legend Rich Sutton. "But the responsible party remains human. You can't say the machine did it."

AI and cloud services: pragmatism over politics

For Lõhmus, pragmatism matters, not ideological positions. "In principle, you could use solutions other than cloud services, all the way down to a server disconnected from the internet, but I don't see that being of much use in real life," he says. According to him, it does not matter whether servers are located in Europe or elsewhere; what matters is how data is used. "People tend to overestimate whether Europe or non-Europe is decisive. The providers are the same, and the question is only what is done with the data," he notes.

"I don't like it when rules are made first and then people hope the economy will flourish because of them. AI is evolving so fast that it cannot be regulated; new model generations arrive every 6 months."

Lõhmus criticizes Europe's regulation-first approach. "I don't like it when rules are made first and then people hope the economy will flourish because of them. AI is evolving so fast that it cannot be regulated; new model generations arrive every 6 months. We should focus on what is truly necessary, not waste time on endless discussions and conferences."

America, China, and Europe: different paths

Living in Switzerland, Lõhmus says the country is at the top in AI science globally but cautious in applications. "In foundational model research, Switzerland is per capita among the leaders. For example, world-class work is being done in Lugano," he says. At the same time, privacy and conservatism take priority in practice. "There are areas, though, where they're ahead of us. For example, my son's school has a program that helps teachers prepare lessons."

In Lõhmus's assessment, two directions should be distinguished: top-tier model development and their practical application. "The United States is pushing boundaries: developing models, compute power, and new chips. China is being restricted, but they're doing the same thing more algorithmically, 'with brains,' finding workarounds and integrating AI into everyday life and products faster," he says.

He gives the example of Chinese air conditioner manufacturer Midea, which had already added an AI model to its appliances a year ago. "I asked at LHV back then: how is it possible that they're already doing this while we're still looking at our feature list?"

AI: from entertainment to learning

According to Lõhmus, AI is the best tool precisely for learning. "My 13-year-old son uses AI to learn mathematics, for example probability theory. And the results are good," he says. Lõhmus himself also uses AI to expand his knowledge. "In traditional banking, interest is calculated once a day, but today I learned that in DeFi it happens with every block, in Ethereum every 12 seconds and in Solana every few hundred milliseconds. Essentially, this means that interest compounds continuously. Where else do you learn things like that?"

Lõhmus believes that robots are in the same development phase as home computers were in the early 1990s, first more toys, later tools. "The home is one of the most complex environments. In Tallinn, there are a couple of humanoids being 'tamed' and rebuilt, like laboratory experiments," he says.

According to Lõhmus, AI is the best tool precisely for learning. "My 13-year-old son uses AI to learn mathematics, for example probability theory. And the results are good," he says.

He recalls his first Toshiba T3200-type computer, which he brought to the Bank of Estonia in 1991. "It weighed eight kilos and cost a lot, but the benefit was minimal. Mostly I played games and wrote text. It's the same with robots right now: at first it's entertainment, later the practical benefits come."

Former LHV Group CEO Madis Toomsalu spending time with a robot. Photo: LHV

Lõhmus believes that robots will inevitably reach both offices and homes. "Progress is strong and tightly linked to AI. The world of robots is even more complex than self-driving cars. Cars drive on roads, but robots have to manage in uncontrolled environments. At some point, the first tragic accident will certainly happen, and there will be a huge outcry. But progress cannot be stopped."

AI creates a new generation of winners

"AI is a super opportunity," Lõhmus repeats in closing. "This is the current generation's 'winning moment.' Like in the 1990s, when my generation managed to adapt from the Soviet era into a new economic space, while many older people could not. Now it's the same situation: teenagers have a much greater perspective in the future environment than you or I."

Story authored by AI Eesti co-founder Ralf-Stiven Viru