Nordic ministers for culture invest in joint network for AI language models
Artificial intelligence is gaining traction and being used more broadly at all levels of society, which is why it’s more important than ever that technological development is anchored in the Nordic Region’s unique culture and languages. A shared challenge for the Nordic countries is the lack of transparency around how language models are developed and what datasets they are trained on. The models risk marginalising smaller languages or giving a distorted picture of linguistic variation. To counter this, earlier this year the Committee of Senior Officials for Culture recommended establishing a Nordic network – a proposal that has now been given the green light by the Nordic ministers.
First assignment for new Nordic-Baltic centre for AI
The task of establishing and co-ordinating the network goes to the newly created Nordic-Baltic centre for AI, New Nordics AI, making this one of its very first projects. The network will bring together national stakeholders working on the development of language models and provide a platform for collaboration on shared challenges. The aim is to promote the exchange of knowledge and expertise between countries, to identify relevant partnerships, and to strengthen the development of language models rooted in Nordic languages and contexts.
“This is an important step to ensure that our languages can continue to live and develop in step with new technology. By bringing together experts from across the Nordic Region, we can share the responsibility for how our languages are used and represented in the digital tools of the future,” says Finland’s Minister for Research and Culture, Mari-Leena Talvitie.
The network is also expected to be able to identify needs for further collaboration and initiatives, which may pave the way for future investments in Nordic language models and AI solutions with regional anchoring.
At the meeting, the ministers also discussed the impact of artificial intelligence on the Nordic cultural landscape. The ministers agreed that AI has huge consequences for culture throughout the Nordic Region, giving rise to entirely new challenges and issues relating to copyright. The ministers encouraged continued close dialogue on how the Nordics can best overcome these shared challenges.
