The Irish government and perfect A1 AI in Gaeltacht

When we think of the Irish language and children, we think of summers spent in the Gaeltacht. Those summers spent in the Gaeltacht are about to get a modern makeover as our children and grandchildren interact with the latest cutting edge AI technology.

As AI is now becoming one of the main tools used by business, it has come as no surprise that the Irish government is backing it. The Irish government is going all in on the AI revolution and is the first government in the world to back AI being used in a country’s native language, starting in the Gaeltacht.

The Government AI initiative has been 5 years in development and is going to be launched by Dara Calleary, Minister for Social Protection; and Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, when the dail resumes after the Easter break. A government source told Irish Tech News that after 5 years in formalising and planning this initiative, the time is right to launch it.

The source also told us that the government was waiting until AI technology including LLM’s was at the stage it is at now, before they could introduce it. Another problem that had to be overcome was getting the AI to understand various Irish accents and dialects. A Kerry accent or a Northern accent such as one from Monaghan is vastly different than say a Dublin 4 accent.

Irish AI in the Gaeltacht

The new initiative dubbed Artificial Irish (AI) is going to have a trial run in the Gaeltacht in the summer. If the trial run is successful, it will get a nationwide launch next year.

The aim of the initiative is to promote STEM and the tech sector to junior cert and leaving cert school kids who are also Gaeilgeoirí. The trial run this summer will be run in various Irish Colleges in the Gaeltacht, and if it is successful, the aim is to add it to the national curriculum.

Barney O’Blarney the chairperson of Gaeilgeoir Forever which promotes Gaelic in a modern Ireland was full of praise for what the government is doing. “It’s a wonderful idea that will be big news all over the world.” O’Blarney added “The first country in the world to promote the use of AI in the country’s native language is s something to be proud of.”

As you will know Irish Tech News has been actively backing AI in some of our podcasts and some of the articles we publish. The new government AI initiative is something we whole heartedly applaud and we look forward to covering it in further detail after the official launch.

In the meantime keep listening to our podcasts and reading our articles on the Irish Tech News podcast as we showcase the latest in Irish and world tech news.

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