How the German Government’s “Modernization Agenda’’ Integrates AI
Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz’s cabinet agreed on a “modernization agenda” this week, which includes the use of AI. Reducing bureaucracy costs by 25% by 2029, offering more public services online and using artificial intelligence in government and in courts are some of the projects Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet agreed to this past week. Among the plans for integrating AI into everyday use is an online platform for export-based businesses to bundle information on export regulations and credit options, and expediting visa processing by using AI to review an applicant’s documents.
The “Modernization Agenda,” as Digitalization Minister Karsten Wildberger has called it, comes on the heels of the similarly titled “High-Tech Agenda.” Presented by Dorothee Bär, federal minister of research, technology and space, in July, the “High-Tech Agenda” highlights AI as one of the six key technologies the government will promote, alongside biotechnology and microelectronics.
A more visible example of the government’s recent AI push is the so-called Weimatar, an AI avatar of State Minister for Culture and Media Wolfram Weimer. The Weimatar can speak 100 languages and is promised to be an example of “fair AI, that protects creativity and strengthens our democratic public sphere.” Its purpose is not only to more easily reach a broader audience on social media, but also to save time internally at the ministry with, for example, training videos that can be made quickly and kept up to date.