Sigrit Siht, Director of AI & Data, Digital Nation, Estonia

1. How do you use technology/policy to improve citizens’ lives? Tell us about your role or organisation. 

I am Director of AI & Data at Digital Nation, and I previously worked in various roles for the Estonian government, so I have had the privilege to see many different projects that have improved government processes come to life. Usually, huge development projects get all the glory, but for me the most interesting projects are the ones that can go unnoticed like anything to do with capacity building. These projects are especially impactful as they lay the foundation for the implementation of every new technology that can improve citizens’ lives in the future. 

In my role today I work with governments that want to improve their public services and become more transparent. I get to co-create lasting policies and come up with new initiatives that will impact the lives of citizens around the world. Whether it be recommending publishing new datasets to increase their data economy or help come up with an AI use case that helps mitigate the dangers and devastation brought on by floods.

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2. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year?

This year I had the opportunity to be part of a consortium that collaborated with the Ukrainian CDTO Campus. I shared my insights with 40 Ukrainian senior civil servants on how AI and data can elevate government processes. Their interest and willingness to still focus on building a better tomorrow is incredible.

When I think about this question in a broader sense, I am also proud of the content I’ve had the chance to post this year. There are a lot of international organizations that publish interesting white papers, recommendations and reports. These are often very long documents written in a very official/technical manner. I have received a lot of positive feedback on different posts on LinkedIn and podcast episodes I’ve been part of, saying that I’ve helped people better understand what the core ideas of these important AI and data documents are.

3. What was one unexpected learning from 2024? 

The most unexpected personal learning from 2024 for me was that learning French can be fun. I have always loved learning languages, however I used to think that French with its phonetics was not for me. I’d had an opportunity to take French in secondary school, and I didn’t like it much back then.

This summer I challenged myself to giving the language a new chance and enrolled myself in a French course. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning French and can only encourage others to pick up a new hobby or learn a new skill just for you. I can’t say that I wouldn’t enjoy sleeping in on Saturdays but waking up early to get to class is actually a small price to pay.

4. What’s a tool or technique you’re excited to explore in 2025?

We at Digital Nation will launch our own public AI-powered tool in February 2025. As someone who was part of building it, I can’t really explore it as a user, but I am excited to explore what the actual outcomes and feedback are going to be. 

5. Everybody’s talking about AI today – give us your hot take on AI and what it means for the public sector. 

I see AI in the public sector as just another tool in the toolbox for providing better services and improving efficiency, and I believe that, to an extent, AI can benefit every country. Let’s look at Estonia as an example where AI has been implemented in various domains in the public sector: in 2022 there were in theory 6,529 vacant civil servants job postings but only 4,995 could be filled.

AI has clearly not stolen jobs but greatly alleviated the gross understaffing in the public sector.  

Thinking of AI as a tool and not as a mysterious solution for everything will also hopefully lead to better AI solutions and it not being implemented just for the sake of AI. 

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6. What are your priorities for 2025?

Simply put, my priority for some time now has been to be grateful every day. It’s important to understand the value of everything you already have in your life. From the people supporting you to the smallest aspects of your everyday life, like a bus coming right when you get to the bus stop or a green light when you sit in traffic already late to wherever you need to go to. 

7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators?

Remember to celebrate your successes! As previously mentioned, there’s often a lack of civil servants and that very often leads to an increased workload for the existing ones. In this situation some smaller projects that have ended successfully can go overlooked because the focus lays on problems that still need solving. So, whenever something has finished successfully, make a note to celebrate it.

8. Who inspires you today? 

In my line of work, I get to meet people from around the world, so I could name so many cool individuals, but to provide a bit more context I’ll reframe the question to “Why do those that inspire you inspire you?”

Mostly, I feel inspired when people focus on the solution and really believe in and work for the promise of a better tomorrow. I also find that inspiration and inspirational people are found everywhere.