Icelandic is in danger of dying out because of AI and English-language media, says former PM

Katrin Jakobsdottir and her co-author want the 350,000 people who speak the language to fight for its future

Iceland's former prime minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir, has said that the Icelandic language could be wiped out in as little as a generation due to the sweeping rise of AI and encroaching English language dominance.

Katrin, who stood down as prime minister last year to run for president after seven years in office, said Iceland was undergoing radical" change when it came to language use. More people are reading and speaking English, and fewer are reading in Icelandic, a trend she says is being exacerbated by the way language models are trained.