On April 28, KPMG and Microsoft hosted a conference on opportunities related to the use of artificial intelligence in Icelandic companies and public entities. Among the agenda items was a panel discussion titled Icelandic Language and Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities for the Future. Linda Heimisdóttir, CEO of Miðeind, Lilja Dögg Jónsdóttir, CEO of Almannarómur, and Sverrir Norland, communications specialist at Arion Bank, discussed the importance of artificial intelligence supporting and strengthening the Icelandic language.

At Miðeind, we utilized our own speech recognition tool, Hreimur, to process the panel discussion and make the content accessible in an efficient manner. With Hreimur, we were able to convert the recording into text with timestamps, allowing us to access the meeting information quickly and accurately. Finally, we added subtitles to the video. Hreimur enables the addition of subtitles in both Icelandic and English, which is convenient for those who want to follow along without sound.

See the video from the panel discussion below.

After processing the recording in Hreimur, we sent the text to Málfríður for summarization. Summarization is a new feature in Málstaður that makes processing minutes and lectures faster, simpler, and more efficient than before. You can read more about the summarization here.

With the summarization, we managed to extract the main information from the panel discussion and present it in a clear and concise manner. The result can be seen below.

Panel Discussion with Three Experts on the Status of Icelandic in Artificial Intelligence and Language Technology:

• Lilja Dögg Jónsdóttir, CEO of Almannarómur

• Linda Heimisdóttir, CEO of Miðeind

• Sverrir Nordal, Communications Specialist at Arion Bank, Author, and Board Member of Almannarómur

Almannarómur and the Language Technology Program

Lilja Dögg introduced Almannarómur as a foundation that oversees the implementation of the language technology program with two main objectives:

• Ensure that Icelandic is usable in technology - build foundations with datasets and technology that can convert speech to text and text to speech

• Ensure that Icelandic is used in technology - promotional work and language advocacy both domestically and abroad

Miðeind and Icelandic Language Technology

Linda introduced Miðeind as a software company that creates technology for artificial intelligence and Icelandic language technology:

• Has been operating for 10 years and is the largest in the field of language technology for Icelandic

• Started with a rule-based system for Icelandic grammar and developed the first grammar correction software for Icelandic

• Has now shifted to neural networks and the latest AI technology

The Fight for Icelandic in Artificial Intelligence

Discussion on how Icelandic has been incorporated into AI solutions:

• Delegations of Icelandic officials to tech giants in the United States

• The importance of constantly reminding and being vocal about Icelandic despite being a small market

• Icelanders have built infrastructure and datasets that facilitate the implementation of Icelandic

• Miðeind has developed benchmarks to assess the capability of AI models in Icelandic

• Measurable results have helped convince tech giants to add Icelandic

Challenges in Language Technology for Icelandic

Main challenges discussed:

• Lack of data - Icelandic is only 0.03% of the Common Crawl dataset

• After filtering for good data, only 1% of that 0.03% remains

• Create an imbalance against large American tech companies

• Questions about data usage and copyright

The importance of Icelandic in artificial intelligence

Discussion on why it's important for Icelandic to be part of AI solutions:

• Personal connection to the mother tongue - "Icelandic is me" (Sverrir)

• Each language has a built-in unique way of thinking

• Society would lose "a kind of soul" by switching to English

• Although AI models have become good at Icelandic grammar, they lack understanding of Icelandic culture and history

• Google Gemini 2.5 Pro the only model that scores above 50% on a test about Icelandic culture and history

Future projects and challenges

Final thoughts on upcoming projects and challenges:

• Utilization and implementation of language technology that has already been developed

• Strategy formulation on what Icelanders will build themselves and where they will use foreign technology

• Concerns about security threats related to AI globally

• Discussion about humans craving meaning rather than quantity

• Efficiency is not always beneficial, especially in human interactions and creativity

In Conclusion

The panel emphasized the importance of ensuring that the Icelandic language has a future in artificial intelligence, with robust infrastructure and a targeted strategy. Participants pointed out that language is at the core of our identity and culture, and that we must defend its position in future technological solutions. The lack of data and influence is a challenge, but the opportunities are real if we take the initiative.

We at Miðeind thank KPMG and Microsoft for an ambitious and well-executed event.
Further information about other agenda items can be found here