Smiltēns wants AI to give Saeima deputies faster analytical support

Members of Latvia's parliament, the Saeima, should be able to use artificial intelligence to receive analytical information faster and advance their initiatives sooner. Saeima Speaker Edvards Smiltēns (AS) said this on Friday in an interview with the Latvian Television programme "Rīta panorāma". In his view, such a change is needed so that parliamentary work becomes quicker and more flexible.

Analytical Service

Smiltēns believes the Saeima's Analytical Service needs considerably greater capacity and speed. He hopes to achieve this with artificial intelligence, which would allow a large volume of data to be processed and answers to be given to deputies almost immediately. The politician said deputies should be able to come forward with initiatives right away, rather than after three or six months spent waiting for a commissioned study. As he sees it, Latvia, as a small country, must be able to work quickly and flexibly.

More flexible use of staff and experts

Smiltēns also wants to discuss with the Saeima factions a more flexible deployment of parliamentary staff in committee work. For example, when the workload of the Budget and Finance (Taxation) Committee rises significantly during the review of the state budget, staff from other committees could be brought in to help. When workloads change, those employees could in turn be redirected to support other committees.

He also proposes that each committee be able to bring in an expert for a set period, with a more flexible procedure for hiring and dismissing that expert. According to the politician, the aim of such changes would be to give deputies better opportunities to achieve results in their work.

Goals for subcommittees

For the work of Saeima subcommittees, Smiltēns wants to set specific goals, possibly also deadlines and expected results. He believes this would encourage more purposeful work and would also allow journalists to follow what has been accomplished.