Ideas Lab Ancient tongues, modern voices: AI for language and biocultural heritage

AI is reshaping economies, industries and institutions across Europe. But at CEPS Ideas Lab on 3 March, the conversation turned to something less visible, and arguably more fundamental: the survival of languages, cultures and communities that have never had a seat at the technology table. Bringing together indigenous community leaders, technologists, UNESCO representatives and EU policymakers, the session "Ancient tongues, modern voices: AI for language and biocultural heritage" moves beyond the usual narrative of AI as an economic driver to debate how artificial intelligence can serve cultural and linguistic preservation.

The discussion, moderated by Robert Praas, Data Scientist at CEPS and COO of AI World, moves through three interconnected challenges: the digital exclusion of indigenous languages from mainstream platforms; the translation of preservation ambitions into community-governed tools; and the risk of "Digital Extractivism," whereby cultural data is harvested for commercial model training without returning value or control to the communities it belongs to.

To address these challenges from the ground up, Fidelina Díaz will share her first-hand account - delivered in her native tongue and translated using an AI tool - of the efforts to sustain Chorote and Wichí languages in northern Argentina.

Her testimony will be complemented by Sjur Nørstebø Moshagen, who draws on three decades of Sámi language technology development at the University of Tromsø to offer a concrete, community-governed model for responsible AI tools applied to indigenous languages. Anchoring the debate in international law, Lodovico Folin Calabi will bring UNESCO's perspective on the frameworks governing cultural heritage protection and data sovereignty.

Rounding out the panel, Martin Bailey, Head of the AI for Societal Good unit at the European Commission, and Linn Harkess, programme strategist for the EU-financed Impacto Verde initiative a project implemented in the Gran Chaco Americano region, , will examine Europe's potential role in setting global standards for a trustworthy, community-centred AI, and whether the EU AI Act and Global Gateway strategy can serve as effective instruments against cultural data extractivism.

The session is co-organised with Redes Chaco, a network of over 300 organisations across the Gran Chaco Americano, and is a fitting reminder that the most consequential questions about AI are never purely technical, and that cultural survival demands the full range of perspectives at the table.