Welsh Government teams up with OpenAI to enhance ChatGPT in Welsh

The Welsh Government has unveiled a pioneering collaboration with OpenAI to enhance artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the Welsh language.

This initiative is part of a larger strategy to promote the daily use of Welsh and support economic growth in Welsh-speaking regions.

Cabinet Secretary to Outline Key Priorities for Welsh Language

Today, the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Energy, and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles, will present his strategic priorities for the Welsh language in the Senedd. These priorities emphasize the significant role of technology and include:

• Welsh Language Education Bill: Set to be published soon, this bill aims to ensure all school pupils in Wales can become independent and confident Welsh speakers.
• Economic Development: Focused support for communities with a high density of Welsh speakers to foster language growth alongside economic development.
• Community and Family Engagement: Initiatives to increase opportunities for speaking and enjoying Welsh, enhancing language transmission within families and communities.

Commitment to Welsh Language Growth

Jeremy Miles highlighted the collective responsibility to protect and nurture the Welsh language:

“Cymraeg belongs to us all, and we all have a duty to protect it and to make sure it grows in all aspects of society. I want to see more Welsh for more people, and the priorities I’m setting out today will ensure we’re on the right path to meet our target of a million Welsh speakers and increasing the daily use of the language by 2050.”

Technological Advancements with OpenAI

Miles underscored the vital role of technology in this endeavour, particularly the potential of AI:

“All of us use technology one way or another, and increasingly, we’re seeing AI being used in more situations. I’m excited to see how the new data partnership with OpenAI will lead to improving how AI technologies work in Welsh. Working with OpenAI in the past, we’ve been able to share Welsh language resources and Welsh Government-funded components.”

Building Open Data Archives

The partnership aims to develop open data archives to benefit the research community, enhancing the linguistic performance of AI models. Anna Makanju, VP of Global Affairs at OpenAI, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration:

“The Welsh Government has been a great partner in creating an open-source dataset for training language models. At OpenAI, we want our models to understand as many languages and cultures as possible, so they can benefit as many people as possible.”

Ongoing Commitment and Community Involvement

Since the launch of the Welsh Language Technology Action Plan in 2018, the Welsh Government has achieved significant milestones in digital components for the language. However, Miles acknowledges that there is still work to be done:

“I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved under the Welsh Language Technology Action Plan, but this work is never done and dusted. So today, I’m inviting people to submit information or ideas about what technological developments would help them use more Welsh, and what needs to happen to make it easier for them to use technology in Welsh.”

Have Your Say

The Welsh Government invites suggestions on its website and will engage with people across Wales and beyond to gather input for future work in Welsh language technology.

For more information or to submit your ideas, please visit the Welsh Government website.

[This article was written by Chat GPT after being fed the Welsh Government press release]