AI Kratts Have Been Supporting the Public Sector for Years

Photo: AI Eesti

Artificial intelligence has become one of the central topics in science, business, and governance over recent years. Large language models like ChatGPT have brought AI much closer to people: answering questions, writing texts, and generating new ideas. In Estonia, useful AI solutions, known as kratts, have been supporting public sector work for years.

Cybernetica research director Dan Bogdanov and senior researcher Liina Kamm, whose daily work focuses on secure data technologies and their applications both in Estonia and internationally, believe that AI adoption can make public services more efficient, but only when it is done thoughtfully, securely, and under human oversight.

Kamm explains that artificial intelligence did not begin with large language models and the rise of ChatGPT, but has existed long before.

"In Estonia, several practical solutions have been created with the help of AI that make public services faster and more secure," she says. "For example, the Information System Authority's anonymizer helps identify and replace personal data in texts, reducing the risk of data leaks from processing and enabling institutions to use their data safely. The Police and Border Guard Board's ABC gates, which are based on biometric machine vision, speed up border crossing and strengthen security. The automatic subtitling system used by ERR gives people with hearing impairments the ability to follow live broadcasts in real time." All these and many other solutions are publicly listed on the website kratid.ee.

Bogdanov adds that the major developments will become clear in the coming years. "Right now, thousands of companies and many governments are experimenting with all kinds of applications. Not all of them are useful or cost-effective. One direction where Estonia could also participate is smaller models that focus on a narrow domain and are cheaper to operate," he explains. At the same time, large conversational services like ChatGPT and Le Chat will remain, used by people for everyday help or increasingly as alternatives to search engines.

However, Bogdanov emphasizes caution: "We at Cybernetica would not put large language models in charge of running services; their outputs are still too unpredictable. First, we need to learn to control models much better. Currently, a human must review the machine's output. From this perspective, AI currently delivers the greatest impact where the work process is long and involves bringing together large amounts of data."

The state has been at the forefront

According to Bogdanov, what is interesting about Estonia's e-state is that in some areas, the state has been an even more systematic innovator than the private sector. "I recall a time when Estonia and Singapore competed over who had the 'cooler' e-state. Estonia was strong in digitizing public sector services, while Singapore excelled in private sector ones."

Not all new solutions will necessarily bring immediate success, however. "For instance, rolling out a conversational service like Copilot across the entire government may not be a success story, because identity and access rights management in these systems is still immature," Bogdanov points out. "The experience in England also shows that widespread use of ChatGPT-like systems has not yet delivered the expected economic benefits. Estonia's strength could be in systematic and thoughtful development, not in rushing after new solutions."

Data location sets the security boundaries

Data security and regulations limit AI adoption in the public sector: "The most important thing is to understand where the AI model actually runs, meaning in which server and under which country's company it is managed," emphasizes Kamm. "It is very easy to set up systems that use OpenAI or other cloud service APIs, but if the model resides outside the European Union, it means that user data also moves outside the EU. And currently, this is the case for most models."

Therefore, she says, one must always think through whether it is even possible to share the data: "If the data being sent is sensitive, you need to consider whether it is even allowed to leave the EU. And if the data is not sensitive but the user is given the option to fill in a text field, even then you must account for the fact that anything could be typed there, including sensitive data. The user may not even realize they have shared sensitive information," she explains.

In Bogdanov's view, one solution could be using models locally, on your own infrastructure. "There are models that can be downloaded and set up on your own infrastructure. Another option is to sign an agreement with the model creator that allows local use," he says. Additionally, he notes that responsibility remains with the service provider, who must ensure that inappropriate content is not sent to the model and that wrong answers do not lead to decisions being made based on them. "Contracts can theoretically distribute responsibility, but in practice, model creators are not always willing to do so," he adds.

Given Estonia's demographic situation, improving public sector efficiency is critically important, and AI could play a significant role here. "When X-Road was introduced in 2001, the need for much manual data entry work disappeared, and people retrained and could focus on more substantive work. We expect the same from AI: that routine activities become automated and specialists' time is freed for more important tasks," recalls Bogdanov.

Cybernetica's scientists believe that AI has great potential in Estonia's public sector as well. But its adoption must be thoughtful and secure. If we can apply AI as wisely as we once did with the digital state and X-Road, Estonia has another chance to be a step ahead.