The AI Future Isn’t Just About Algorithms: It’s About Identity, Territory, and Governance.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak at last week Techritory Forum in Riga! The event drew over 2,000 global participants to tackle themes from AI and Digital IDs to 6G research and defence connectivity.
I was delighted to share the stage with Professor Nineta Polemi, Ali C. Hantal, Artūrs Vasiļevskis, and Marios Nicolaou to debate the AI use cases of tomorrow. I also shared insights from the second version of our Agentic State paper, co-authored with Luukas Ilves, Manuel Kilian, Simone Maria Parazzoli , and Ott Velsberg ( 🔗 in the comments).
Three critical ideas for public sector technology leaders stood out from our discussion:
- Agentic IDs are the Missing Link for Public Sector AI.
Successfully deploying AI agents requires us to immediately prioritize agentic identity frameworks. We need secure authentication and delegation capabilities between humans and agents to ensure trust and accountability. Governments must also ensure their Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is “agent-friendly” to unlock secure, scalable third-party agentic innovation.
- Who Governs the Augmented Commons?
The convergence of AI and Augmented Reality (AR) is accelerating, raising fundamental regulatory questions. When digital overlays merge with physical spaces, who governs that augmented reality layer? How do cities charge for advertising in these new spaces, and who resolves conflicts between overlapping digital assets (like a Coca-Cola hologram over a rival ad)? These arbitration answers will define the “augmented commons.”
- Geographic Intelligence is the New Frontier.
To make AI systems safe and useful in these hybrid environments (where physical and digital worlds merge), they must develop much stronger geographic awareness. Progress is needed: making AI systems that truly understand and act within complex spatial contexts is critical for both real-world utility and safety.
- Context Portability is Key to Citizen Rights and Digital Sovereignty.
The public sector’s reliance on proprietary AI can create a systemic risk of vendor lock-in, inhibit private sector competititoin, and stifle innovation. To avoid this and uphold citizen rights, we must enforce Context Portability for both citizens and governments. For the public sector, this means mandating open standards and interoperability protocols in procurement, ensuring that an individual’s accumulated context, and the government’s operational knowledge, is easily transferable. Without this, the public sector merely trades one proprietary silo for a larger, more sophisticated AI one.
Kudos to the entire Techritory Forum team for hosting this essential conversation, and special thanks to Neils Kalnins and Felikss Neimanis for the invitation and warm reception.
Looking forward to continuing the conversation next year!