Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing not only our daily lives, but also the way we work in companies and interact with companies through Artificial Intelligence tools or developments in the use of language technology. It is also to be hoped that in the coming years there will be increasingly dramatic changes.

There are tools that use AA to automate routine, repetitive and invaluable activities, guide people to strategic tasks; help improve productivity and anticipate potential problems and, in addition, enable data-driven decision-making, adapt products and services to the needs of the client; help in customer care, offering the possibility of managing the most common consultations through virtual assistants, or helping the management of the communication of more widespread companies.

Companies are driving transformation and are already responding to the new situation. New opportunities and challenges are emerging in the adaptation and training of the workforce, or in the development of partnerships and investment in technology.

In the field of languages, AI is making significant use of them when several languages have to be managed within companies, especially in companies operating globally or with delegations in different areas. Neural translators, virtual assistants and language processing tools are facilitating communication and multilingual content management. As far as our own is concerned, and taking into account the points made by the experts, we are able to bring language technologies in Basque to other advanced areas. A very fruitful journey has been made, and although it is still far from the hegemonic languages, it can be said that we have a technological base that does not have other minority languages and many state languages.

One of my concerns is how this will affect the revitalization of the Basque Country, how the development of Artificial Intelligence will affect the linguistic management of individuals and companies. The development that is taking place around linguistic technology allows the environment to understand and understand us, even if spoken in another language, through translation and transcription systems. In our case, this means that we have the opportunity to prioritize Euskera, because thanks to the technologies, those who do not know Euskera will easily understand it. Therefore, in the case of companies of all kinds wishing to speak in Basque, a great opportunity has been opened. The development of artificial intelligence can help increase the use of Euskera in companies and in the social sphere. But it also has risks, because if a machine generated content in Euskera, and those in other languages offered it in Euskera appropriately, the need for vasco-speakers will be reduced. That is, why study Euskera, if technology allows what is generated in any other language to also be taught in Euskera? Therefore, it is essential to support and promote research, development and innovation in Basque and Basque, to promote the creativity and production of original content in Basque, it is essential to understand that AA should be a complementary and not an alternative tool. It is also fundamental to sensitize citizens to the cultural and historical value of the Basque Country, beyond its functionality as a communication tool. Languages convey information, identity, history and culture. The excessive reliance on technology can diminish that value if the human use of the language is not actively taken care of.

How are organizations and companies responding to the leap that AI needs? Although there are no concrete data from Euskal Herria, according to the BAIC, more than 10% of the companies surveyed use artificial intelligence in the Basque Autonomous Community. Despite the opportunity, many companies do not take advantage of it because they do not see it, do not know it, want to maintain its functioning until now or do not know how to do it ... How should we address the change that AI has brought us and the one that is to come? How to take advantage of the opportunity to benefit the use of Euskera? The BAIC’s AA industry implementation guide does not contain any reference to language management, and I would say that one of its contributions should be to look at the Basque variable and to address it strategically.

As with Euskera’s plans, we need policies, plans and investments to boost the use of Euskera in the digital age. It is a question of informing companies about the benefits and opportunities of AI and the advances that are taking place in the language technology derived from it. The instruments must be made known and made available to businesses. In Euskal Herria we have excellent models and professionals to face the challenge.

Rober Gutiérrez