Former PM Says AI, English Could Make Icelandic Extinct

A former prime minister is warning that Iceland's language could be wiped out within a generation if artificial intelligence and English continue to overwhelm it. Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who left office last year and is now a presidential candidate, said the country is experiencing a radical shift, with young people surrounded by English online, on social media, and even in daily conversations, the Guardian reports. "A lot of languages disappear, and with them dies a lot of value [and] a lot of human thought," Jakobsdóttir said.

Icelandic is down to about 350,000 speakers. It's one of the world's least-changed languages, but that makes it vulnerable, the politician said. UNESCO reported 15 years ago that thousands of the world's languages could become extinct by the end of the century. "Maybe we need a stronger movement right now to talk about why do we want to preserve the language," Jakobsdóttir said, per the Guardian. There's precedent for restoring Icelandic after outside influence, she said, citing the determined turnaround that took place once Danish rule of Iceland ended early last century.