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I’m in a library again. It’s calm, familiar, and there’s often the same scene: an older lady at a public computer, ID card on the desk, trying to reach a digital service that used to mean paper forms and queues.
She seemed to have a problem and the librarian comes over. Not to recommend a book, but to translate digital life: how to log in, where to click, what a confirmation message means.
That’s why, when Estonia talks about the next wave of education, I don’t think first about a classroom. I think about that corner of the library.
Because the “new subject” isn’t only for students anymore. AI is slipping into work e-mails, customer chats, school tasks, small-business marketing, and everyday information search. In a country built on digital public services, using these tools wisely starts to look like an elementary life skill.
Earlier this year, the government launched Eesti.ai, a nationally managed initiative designed to drive AI adoption across sectors and raise the value of work, explicitly through public–private cooperation. The point is not to let AI “happen to us” but to learn it, test it, and apply it with intention.
One part of that logic is mass upskilling. If you want a society that benefits from AI, you don’t train only specialists. You also train the people who run small companies, manage teams, change careers, or want to stay capable at work and in daily life. The broader ambition linked to Eesti.ai is to reach at least 100,000 residents with AI-related knowledge.
And then there’s the other end of the age spectrum—retirees and older adults who already treat libraries as a “digital help desk”. On 13 May 2026, the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs announced a nationwide initiative with the National Library of Estonia to train librarians to teach communities the basics of using AI. The rollout starts with short training sessions for librarians, followed by pilots in libraries across Estonia to test materials and guidance; the e-learning materials are planned to be available to all residents by autumn.
I like this approach because it tackles a deceptively hard question: whose responsibility is AI literacy? Employers will train their own people. Schools will adapt. But the biggest gap is often outside institutions—among adults who no longer see themselves as “students.”
Libraries fill that gap with something Estonia has always needed for digital change: trusted, local, human support. The ministry’s message is that digital skills don’t appear only on platforms; they grow through dialogue and guided practice, and must be accessible regardless of where you live, your age, or your previous experience.
There’s also a research dimension: teaching new technology at a population scale creates feedback—what builds confidence, what causes confusion, and how public services and workplaces change as people become more AI-literate.
So when I picture Estonia’s future in education and research, I don’t picture only labs and lecture halls. I picture a librarian leaning in next to a screen, helping someone ask better questions—of a form, a website, and soon, an AI tool. In that moment, “AI nation” stops being a slogan and becomes a civic skill.
