In January, the government launched the Eesti.ai program, which is intended to help boost Estonia's economy through artificial intelligence. The initiative will implement AI-related projects in areas such as healthcare, education, and workforce skills.

Projects under Eesti.ai will receive an additional €10.98 million from the supplementary budget, which will reach its second reading in parliament next week.

Prime Minister Kristen Michal has stated that the initiative should help grow Estonia's economy by 25 percent within five years. ERR asked Eesti.ai team lead Maar whether any measurable financial impact could realistically be expected by the end of this year.

Maar noted that this year is still the launch phase, making it unrealistic to assess the initiative's impact on the overall economy in monetary terms by year-end.

"However, by then it will be possible to measure initial intermediate results at the level of individual projects. These may include time savings, reduced manual work, improved data quality, more efficient workflows, and the first pilots and deployments of AI solutions in companies," Maar said.

According to her, project-based metrics will provide more meaningful and accurate insights this year. "The long-term economic impact will only emerge once the use of AI moves from isolated pilots into the everyday workflows of companies, the public sector, and individuals," Maar added.

The €11 million from the supplementary budget is intended to cover activities in Eesti.ai's first implementation phase this year. The initiative includes 15 projects across six areas: workforce skills, healthcare, education, business, AI infrastructure, and the public sector. Eleven of these projects will receive funding from the supplementary budget.

Nearly half of the funding to go toward public education

More specifically, €5.2 million will go to the Government Office to implement the population skills program "The Most AI-Savvy Nation."

The Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs will receive €1.055 million for initiatives related to legislation and automating public sector workflows, including licensing costs needed by the public sector. The State Shared Service Center will receive €0.55 million to improve simple procurement processes using AI.

The Ministry of Education and Research will receive €1.9 million. Of this, €1.3 million will be used to develop practical AI solutions to support teachers and students, €250,000 will go to personalized learning and AI applications within the education data exchange system, and €350,000 will go to the Institute of the Estonian Language to create fine-tuning datasets for large language models.

Under the Ministry of Social Affairs, €2.022 million will be allocated to the Health Insurance Fund to launch four healthcare initiatives.

"These healthcare projects include automating documentation for family doctors and emergency workers, securely enhancing the value of health data, and innovation projects in chronic disease prevention and prevention-based funding models," Maar explained.

She added that, in addition to Eesti.ai project proposals, the Office of the Chancellor of Justice will receive €250,000 from the supplementary budget to strengthen legal oversight and capacity related to AI use.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has allocated €7 million for Eesti.ai business measures in 2026, funded not from the supplementary budget but from the state budget and EU structural funds. With this funding, new measures will open this summer through the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency (EISA) to support companies in testing and implementing AI.

Around 1,000 people have attended workshops so far

eThe first meeting of the Eesti.ai advisory board took place on April 8, where 15 project proposals prepared by the initiative team were approved. All of these projects are still in early stages.

"The three-month pilot phase of the 'Most AI-Savvy Nation' program has already been actively launched. Its goal is to gather feedback on the best formats for scaling AI training workshops. So far, 27 workshops have been held in various Estonian cities," said the team lead.

Around 1,000 people have participated in these workshops. An initial concept for an 18-month population skills program has also been developed, along with a citizen AI competency model, and preparations are underway for procurement documents, a detailed training plan, and a digital platform architecture.

According to Maar, there is strong public interest in the hands-on AI workshops offered by Estonia.ai, with 30–40 participants per session. However, since AI solutions and their applications are evolving rapidly, the workshop content must be continuously updated and adapted.

The pilot phase began in April and will run through June. Trainers were selected based on recommendations from Estonia.ai engagement events.

"We asked for references and recommendations and evaluated trainers' experience in delivering practical AI workshops across different sectors and in general," Maar said, adding that once the program launches at full scale, trainers will be selected through public procurement.

Productivity growth will be the key indicator of success

Eesti.ai workshops are free for participants and primarily aimed at the general public. Measures aimed at businesses — AI vouchers and AI business development support — are being prepared by EISA.

The AI voucher provides up to €20,000 per company, while business development support ranges from €100,000 to €500,000 per project.

"The goal of these measures is to increase companies' readiness to invest in AI technologies and process innovation," Maar said. The plan is to support experimentation and testing of AI, helping companies boost productivity, develop new solutions, and increase export potential.

State aid rules require companies receiving support to contribute 30–50 percent co-financing.

Maar identified labor productivity — measured as value added per employee — as the main indicator for evaluating Estonia.ai's success. This is internationally comparable and aligns with Estonia's goal of reaching 110 percent of the EU average productivity by 2035.

In addition, Estonia.ai will develop short- and long-term performance and impact indicators for each focus area by the fall, based on Estonia 2035, the long-term research and innovation strategy, and data from Statistics Estonia.

"We have also developed an initial prototype of an AI impact dashboard called Mõjutamm, modeled after Statistics Estonia's data platform Tõetamm. Its aim is to present the impact of Estonia.ai activities as clearly and data-driven as possible. We also plan to collaborate with university data scientists to further develop impact evaluation methodology," Maar explained.

The Eesti.ai team operates under the Government Office's strategy unit and is funded through the public sector innovation capacity support measure, also known as the Innovation Fund.

The initiative is supported by ministries and their agencies, with about 25 people from various institutions involved in the working group, according to Maar.

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