Name in original language
VÍZIA AI PRE SLOVENSKO: Cesta k digitálnej suverenite a efektivite prostredníctvom umelej inteligencie
Initiative overview
The "AI Vision for Slovakia" is a strategic framework responding to the "cognitive revolution" where AI becomes critical infrastructure. The initiative is driven by the urgent need for fiscal consolidation and the collapse of available skilled labour, positioning AI not as a luxury but as a necessity for state functionality. The strategy is built on six pillars:
Infrastructure & AI Factories: Leveraging Slovakia’s competitive advantage in carbon-free energy (nuclear and hydro) to build data centres and AI computing hubs.
Effective Public Administration: Moving from simple digitisation to automation. The strategy rejects building expensive foundation models from scratch, opting instead for a "sovereign adaptation layer"—secure fine-tuning of global models on state data.
Economic Growth: Supporting the transition of industry to Industry 4.0 and aiding companies in moving from basic digitisation to AI adoption.
Society & Ethics: Focusing on child protection in the online space and countering deepfakes.
Education: Developing talent and adapting curricula for the AI era.
International Co-operation: Active participation in EU initiatives (AI Factories, EuroHPC) to secure funding and computing power.
A crucial component is the reform of governance. The initiative ends "departmental feudalism" by centralising methodological guidance and procurement under MIRRI SR to eliminate duplication and enforce interoperability.
Results, outcomes and impacts
The initiative began with a comprehensive audit of state readiness in late 2025. Expected outcomes include the establishment of AI Factories using Slovakia's carbon-free energy and the deployment of a "sovereign adaptation layer" for secure government AI use. The strategy targets the automation of administrative processes to counter labour shortages and the creation of a centralised governance model to eliminate duplicate spending. Long-term impacts focus on digital sovereignty, increased GDP through AI adoption and enhanced protection of minors in the digital space.
Challenges and lessons learned
A major challenge identified is "departmental feudalism" and fragmented IT spending, where ministries previously built incompatible isolated solutions. The strategy addresses this by enforcing centralised methodological guidance and joint procurement. Another hurdle is the "data debt" (unstructured/low-quality data), which requires cleaning before AI deployment. The initiative explicitly rejects the costly "greenfield" development of foundation models, opting instead for a cost-effective "sovereign adaptation layer" (fine-tuning). Lessons learned emphasise that without centralised co-ordination and interoperability, public funds are wasted on incompatible systems.
