Estonia’s AI Leap brings chatbots to schools

Astonia has a reputation as one of the most digitally advanced countries in the world, thanks to its skilled digital platforms and its startup-friendly culture for government services. The digital skills of its citizens are largely due to the government’s decades long campaign to bring technology to schools. Now, the government is launching AI leap 2025Which will bring AI tools in the initial group of 20,000 high school students in September. Seam coinA former member of the Estonian government and part of the launch team says that the AI ​​leap program is beyond providing access to new technology. Its goal is to give students the skills they need to use it morally and effectively.

What was the tiger leap program, and how is it happening what you are doing now?

Siim sikkut: Tiger Leap was a program to bring computers and internet and basic digital skills in all schools in Estonia in the 90s. I myself made all things aware of the Internet, because at that time, we did not have a chance to use them at home. These people and girls became the founder of industry and digital government, so it allowed us to jump into the creation of a digital society in Estonia.

How does the AI ​​leap program follow that model?

Sikkut: Our thinking now we have to make the same jump and expose our young generations to this next wave (technology). There are differences between programs. Then it was, we will give you access and equipment that you like. Now, with AI tools, we think it will have to cure it a little more. You have to learn to use them contrary to getting an easy way from your homework. So this is more than a skilling effort compared to an access effort.

What will it look like in behavior? Which devices will have access to students?

Sikkut: We are still interacting with partners and vendors, so I will not name companies. But fundamentally, we are talking about a communist AI assistant who is trained in terms of Estonian language and Estonian course. It will be designed for educational use, so it will not be, for example, chat you and I will use in our daily life. This will support learning more. For example, you do not only submit your homework and get the answer back. In that scenario, the tool begins to tutor more than giving you an answer. We are rebuilding the conjunct AI as a learning assistant, and ideally we will have a lot of small subject-based apps. We will have at least one tool, a conversation tool, and then we will build it over the next few years.

Will the teachers see what the students are doing?

Sikkut: We may have to launch it with the basics in advance. But the idea is that we have two apps, a teacher’s assistant and one student, so teachers get response or recommendations to better guide the special student. The idea of ​​making learning more personal for better learning consequences.

When we hear about AI in education, there is usually a doom and sad attitude, such as “it is going to ruin the mind of the next generation. There is no way they are going to learn anything. They are just going to these shortcuts.”

Sikkut: These similar concerns inspired us to do more on this front. What is really running us two very practical ideas. A lot of children use (AI tools) anyway, which replace to think more to complement it. We have the number that 70 percent of children in high school use them anyway. So harmful use is already, and we want to compete. Second, there is a division in use, perhaps for the reasons for the socio -economic background. But the entire education system of Estonia is created on a equal occasion. So it is also an attempt to ensure that we do not increase the division for the future.

And what are the opportunity you see for students?

Sikkut: We are making a condition that this is a competition factor. If you are not there, you are left. In the labor market, as a country, speaking globally, we are saying, “Hey, look, you need to know how to get the most of these devices.”

The current program will provide equipment to the 10th and 11th grader, isn’t it?

Sikkut: Yes, we are now focusing on high school and vocational education. But there is still a debate going on: should we go at an age at the age of that? The jury is still out whether it will be understood. You need to study some independent thinking and discipline and should just be a self-interested learner. It does not start soon.

Are there concerns about it Sad dream And how to teach children how to check for accuracy?

Sikkut: This is correct in the technical skill set of using these things. Unfortunately, hallucinations are a fact of life, and they will be for time (being). These AI skills will be taught by applying in the rest of the course. So in the history class, as you use this AI study assistant, this is the place where you learn about hallucinations and how to look out for them.

Have you talked about this program with teachers? Are they receptive or nervous?

Sikkut: This is all above. As you can imagine, you have early adopters who are enthusiastic. Today, they are already using these devices to plan for their classes, or they run essays via AI tools. At the other end, you have people who have basic digital literacy, but they do not want more than this. We will have a communication effort to ensure that the teachers are fine and calm about it. The main message that we are trying to tell the teachers is that they will not get a full suit of equipment yet. They will all be part of an experiment program.

A version of this article appears as “5 questions for SIIM Sikkut” in the July 2025 issue.