Latvia - National AI Strategy

Overview

The informatīvais ziņojums "Par mākslīgā intelekta risinājumu attīstību" ("Developing Artificial Intelligence Solutions") was adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 4 February 2020 as a national policy planning document that sets Latvia's early, cross-sectoral priorities for artificial intelligence. The document articulates a six-pillar approach — skills, adoption, cooperation, legal/ethical frameworks, data ecosystems and infrastructure — and assigns coordination responsibility to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (VARAM). The strategy is designed to feed into the subsequent Digital Transformation Guidelines 2021–2027 and to encourage AI use in public administration, SMEs and research. While the document is non-binding guidance rather than primary legislative enactment, it remains a reference point for national AI initiatives and for alignment with EU-level frameworks such as the European Commission's coordinated actions on AI and the wider regulatory trajectory. Primary publication and consolidated versions are available through the national legal portal Latvijas Vēstnesis / Likumi.lv and government archives (Cabinet task portal: MK Tapportals).

Definitions

The strategy uses general definitions customary to early AI policy documents: "mākslīgais intelekts (MI)" encompasses methods and systems using machine learning, pattern recognition, natural language processing and related automation techniques to support decision-making or automate tasks; "MI risinājumi" indicates deployed AI applications and services across sectors; "datu ekosistēma" denotes data repositories, standards and sharing mechanisms to support AI development; and "valsts pārvalde" covers ministries, agencies and local governments. The document does not introduce a bespoke risk-classification taxonomy; rather, it frames ethical and legal considerations as areas for future regulatory development and aligns terminology with EU-level discussions as they evolve.

Governance and Institutional Framework

The strategy designates VARAM as the lead coordinating ministry and requires ministries and agencies to evaluate AI use cases, budget implications and implementation timelines. It mandates integration of AI priorities into planning instruments such as the Digital Transformation Guidelines. The strategy envisages multi-stakeholder engagement — public administration, academia, industry and civil society — and signals the need for an institutional focal point to coordinate pilot projects, capacity-building and infrastructure investments. Subsequent policy work has included proposals to create a Latvian Artificial Intelligence Centre and strengthening ties with agencies responsible for digital services and data governance; see the State Chancellery and related announcements preserved on the government's portals (see Cabinet task record). The strategy calls for defined roles and reporting lines, periodic monitoring and the inclusion of AI indicators in e-governance reporting.

Key Focus Areas

Six priority areas structure the strategy. First, education and skills: adapting curricula, upskilling civil servants and supporting workforce transitions. Second, public-sector adoption: implementing AI pilots for service automation, virtual assistants and analytical tools while ensuring legal and procedural safeguards. Third, data and language resources: creating structured, machine-readable datasets and improving Latvian-language data for NLP and other models. Fourth, legal and ethical frameworks: developing principles and regulatory proposals for trustworthy AI in line with European standards. Fifth, infrastructure: investing in broadband, cloud, HPC and platforms that enable AI research and deployment. Sixth, cooperation and ecosystem development: supporting SMEs, start-ups and research through hubs, hackathons and funding instruments. The strategy prioritises concrete near-term actions (2020–2023) while calling for continual reassessment and international alignment.

Implementation Framework

Implementation is operationalised through mandated tasks to ministries, deadlines for preparatory reports and the requirement to reflect AI priorities in national planning documents. The strategy sets milestones for communications guidance, inclusion of AI indicators in e-indexes and for assessing AI feasibility in public ICT projects. It promotes pilot projects, public procurement practices supportive of AI experimentation and closer linkages with EU funding instruments. The strategy leaves specific procurement and regulatory requirements to later instruments but requires ministries to consider legal and technical feasibility and to estimate budgetary implications for 2020–2029 planning cycles. Implementation responsibilities were tracked via Cabinet task records and the VARAM coordination role.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The strategy calls for regular monitoring and evaluation of implementation progress, with targeted indicators to be added to national e-indexing and reporting. Monitoring mechanisms include progress reports by ministries, integration into Digital Transformation review cycles and liaison with EU monitoring (e.g., European Commission AI Watch). The strategy recommends periodic updates where necessary, and subsequent reviews and OECD reporting have highlighted the need for a refreshed strategy and strengthened monitoring arrangements.

Penalties, Liability, and Appeals

As an informatīvais ziņojums, the 2020 strategy does not itself prescribe administrative penalties or liability regimes. Instead it directs the development of legal and ethical frameworks and signals that liability, redress and enforcement mechanisms should be developed in subsequent legislation or regulatory instruments aligned with EU developments. Therefore, any enforcement, sanctions or appeal procedures would derive from future binding regulation or sectoral law rather than from this planning document.

Relationship to Other Instruments

The strategy explicitly links to the Digital Transformation Guidelines 2021–2027, EU-level coordinated plans on AI and national sectoral policies (health, education, infrastructure). It functions as a precursor to follow-up policy instruments, contributing to national data governance initiatives and feeding into later proposals for institutional centres or sectoral AI projects. Official consolidation of the strategy is maintained on the national legal portal (Likumi.lv), and later instruments such as the Digital Transformation Guidelines operationalise many of its objectives.

International Alignment

The document emphasises active engagement in EU and international cooperation, and its priorities were designed to align with the EU Coordinated Plan on AI and to enable Latvia to participate in cross-border data and HPC initiatives. Analyses by the European Commission's AI Watch and the OECD note that the 2020 strategy provided early alignment with EU priorities but that by 2024–2025 Latvia's authorities considered a strategic update necessary to reflect the evolving EU regulatory landscape (including the EU AI Act and renewed EU coordination measures). The strategy supports participation in EU funding, EDIHs and collaborative research programmes.

Implementation Timeline

Sources and References