Kristo Vaher was waist-deep in queries as the director of technology at Digital Nation, a three-year-old consultancy; he was used to answering the same questions from parties in East Asia, Africa, and even the Caribbean who wanted to know about Estonia’s experience with digital governance.
“I just had so many emails from people who wanted to know about X-road,” he recalls. He could see that this bottleneck was costing him time and proving expensive for potential clients who needed to access information to guide their digital transition.
So Vaher did what he always has done. He designed an AI-based tool to automate the process.
The resulting tool, Fusion Intellect was rolled out in March. With the tagline “expert advice is no longer a luxury,” it consists of two related questionnaires, each nine questions long, that relate to implementing AI in governance and digital government services.
Respondents receive personalised reports generated using AI that match the context of their responses to information prepared within Digital Nation based on its expertise. A typical report includes “initial thoughts” and detailed recommendations and can run about 13 pages. Fusion Intellect differs from a generic AI tool like ChatGPT in that it operates within defined boundaries, and its output aligns with Digital Nation’s strategies and practices. Vaher calls this “expert-mixed AI,” where expert advice is combined with a tool.
“Everybody knows that AI hallucinates,” says Vaher, noting there are situations when AI might provide inaccurate or even fabricated information. Fusion Intellect, however, has been supplied with facts about interoperability, data exchange, digital services, and ways to approach AI in governance, all sourced from Digital Nation. “Someone from a country in Africa just has to answer a few questions,” says Vaher. “We use the AI to match the context between the client’s problem and our recommendations. The AI is used to find out what is relevant.”
Vaher joined Digital Nation in 2023, after serving as CTO for the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications for five years. He is also the creator of Cup of Coffee AI, an AI-powered platform he created to streamline the initial meetings of professionals and clients. He says that Cup of Coffee AI was the basis for Digital Nation’s Fusion Intellect.
“The early consulting process is often cumbersome, boring, and expensive,” he points out. “Customers just want to get some initial advice they can work with,” Vaher says. “It’s the initial coffee, the first meeting.”
Repurposed for Digital Nation, Fusion Intellect can now be used by the company to generate potential new leads and focus on would-be clients who might be ready to take further steps. One of the company’s consultants could step in and continue. Though Digital Nation is just a few years old, the map on the wall in its office is dotted with white flags representing partners. Little white flags are now displayed from South America to Africa to Asia and the Pacific.
Vaher says the company is currently working with partners worldwide, and its goal is to “build a better digital nation” than in Estonia. That country could take on the mantle as the world leader in digital service. It has not yet happened, but that is Digital Nation’s dream.
Like Vaher, many of the company’s members were involved in shaping Estonian digital policy. Digital Nation’s cofounder and managing director is Siim Sikkut, Estonia’s former chief information officer. Helena Lepp, Digital Nation’s director of service transformation, once served as digital service development director within the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and has been involved in digital governance for over a decade. Sigrit Siht, director of artificial intelligence and data, was a project manager and data policy advisor at the same ministry. She was involved in developing Bürokratt, a virtual assistant that communicates with public institutions.
According to Lepp, Fusion Intellect aligns well with Digital Nation’s focus on building the foundations for digital governance in partner countries.
“What countries often miss is that they think digital transformation is just about building technology,” says Lepp. “But it’s also about putting together good governance structures.”
With its deep bench of expertise, Digital Nation is well-positioned to fly into Tanzania or Japan and advise potential clients about their digital governance services. Having Fusion Intellect to help them along that process allows the company to focus on the work that matters and skip the basics. A client will contact Digital Nation and contact the company, after which they might be referred to Fusion Intellect so that the company’s consultants can better understand their situation, and the clients will also better understand what they need to do. This saves time and money for both parties, Lepp notes.
“It’s something we can share as a follow-up,” says Lepp. “We can say, ‘Try this out, maybe you’ll find it interesting.'”
Siht prepared the information that forms the component of the AI implementation report provided by Fusion Intellect (Lepp provided the playbook related to digital government services). Siht says she started by creating a list of questions that she typically asks clients and then branching off into why she would ask those questions of them. She also included information to help demystify AI for new clients approaching the firm.
Development continues. “Right now, we have the first version,” says Siht. We can always tailor it to meet the needs of organisations and governments.” Vaher said an interoperability report will soon be added to Fusion Intellect. It will provide an initial government interoperability assessment and recommendations. “An important part of it is the data exchange aspect, including how X-Road might work for the country,” he added.
In general, Siht says that Fusion Intellect has the opportunity to disrupt the market, as some consultancies might seek to benefit from the lengthy dialogues during the onboarding process. Vaher expects these kinds of tools to be implemented more frequently in consulting for the same reasons that led him to develop them.
“You don’t need a world-class, expensive expert to help you with initial ideas,” he says. “Tools like this will replace initial consulting. The signs are there. This is only going to grow.”