Latvia aims to save about €1 billion by putting AI at the heart of government, PM says

Artificial intelligence must become a driver of Latvian and European competitiveness, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs told an informal meeting of EU heads of state and government on Friday, 13 November, the Latvian news agency LETA reported.

The meeting in Dublin focused on the development of AI, Europe’s competitiveness and technological independence, and the impact of AI on society and security.

€1 billion in four years

Kulbergs said his goal was to turn Latvia within four years into a country where AI is the basis of how the public administration works. He said the new technology would allow faster and better decisions, cut red tape and make more efficient use of state resources.

“Our ambition is to save about €1 billion of public money in four years with the help of new technologies,” he said.

Latvian examples and skills

Kulbergs called on Europe to pool the resources needed to develop AI and give all member states equal access to them. As positive examples he cited TildeOpen LLM, an open-source large language model built in Latvia that covers almost all European languages, and AIFA-LAT, a project that connects Latvian researchers, institutions and businesses to European supercomputers.

He said investment in technology must go hand in hand with investment in people’s skills. Technology must serve people’s interests, with safe and transparent use, protection of personal data and human oversight. He called for stronger AI literacy and critical thinking, and for AI models to be available in all European languages, including Latvian.

Leaders also discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine. Kulbergs said Latvia would again contribute 0.25% of its gross domestic product to support Ukraine in 2027.