Estonia is proposing a framework to issue official digital IDs to AI agents. These IDs would allow AI agents to initiate or prepare tasks like payments and document handling on behalf of individuals and companies.

The Eesti.ai advisory board has agreed to move forward with the concept. It aims to establish auditable and controllable authorisations for AI tools.

The proposed direction would let users set strict boundaries for an AI assistant. This would prevent the need to grant full account access.

Setting boundaries for automated services

Under the planned framework, granting digital identities to AI agents would give them limited and verifiable powers.

For example, an individual or business could authorise an AI agent to prepare a payment within a specific financial limit or restrict the tool to solely viewing data.

“In the future, AI will increasingly carry out digital tasks on our behalf, compiling reports, preparing declarations or interacting with information systems,”

said Kristen Michal, Prime Minister of Estonia.

“To that end, it must be clear who is acting on whose behalf with what rights, and who is ultimately responsible.”

Michal said the country builds its digital infrastructure on trust. It relies on systems such as digital signatures and the X-Road data exchange layer.

He added that official digital identities for AI agents would allow Estonia to maintain accountability as the technology becomes more widespread.

Evaluating language models for business use

During the advisory board meeting, officials reviewed broader technology projects alongside the digital identity proposal.

The Institute of the Estonian Language presented its LLM Leaderboard, which assesses the quality of large language models in the Estonian language and their resistance to propaganda.

The institute noted that simpler and cheaper models often perform poorly in Estonian. This could increase the risk of misleading information being disseminated.

To address this, the Eesti.ai initiative encourages the public sector and businesses to make informed choices about the models they deploy.

The board also discussed the Most AI-Savvy Nation pilot programme. It aims to train 10,000 participants by the end of the year.

It also includes plans for a physical drone testing environment in the Baltic Sea region.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Baltic, based on image by Gov of Estonia