AI Pioneers: Normalizing Estonia's AI use through training, testing and transparency - October 27, 2026 -
How is Estonia turning AI into public value? Ott Velsberg, Estonia’s government chief data officer, reveals its bold approach to smarter services, skilled teams, trusted data and responsible innovation.Estonia is not only a global leader in e-Government; it is also at the forefront of AI adoption. According to a recent nationwide survey of public sector organizations, nearly 90% reported using AI. Furthermore, on average, a greater proportion of government employees use AI daily compared to their private sector counterparts (37% vs 25%).
In episode 1 of AI Pioneers, Ott Velsberg, Estonia’s government chief data officer, explains how mandatory training, role-specific competencies and positioning AI as a productivity tool have normalized its use across the public sector. He tells Thomas Erwin, EY Government and Infrastructure AI co-leader, how the government has put real-world experimentation before drafting policy and reformed AI funding to support testing hypotheses, not delivering outcomes. He explains that openly communicating how data is used and providing clarity on the functioning of algorithms can help build citizen trust.
AI Pioneers is a miniseries featuring speakers from pioneering government organizations identified in EY’s data and AI reports. Listen in for practical lessons from peers who have successfully moved from ambition to impact – scaling AI to transform their organizations and how they serve citizens.
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