Market-driven AI growth risks excluding smaller languages, says Hans Wijayasuriya

12-Jul-2026

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Presidential Adviser on the Digital Economy Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya has warned that artificial intelligence driven solely by market forces could marginalise many low-resource languages and their cultural and ethnic contexts.

Addressing the Leaders' Dialogue at the 2026 World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva, he said every major technological revolution had lowered barriers to knowledge, but access had never been equal. While the internet democratised information, language, literacy and connectivity continued to determine who benefited. AI, he said, has the potential to make knowledge more accessible through natural communication, provided it is developed in an inclusive and equitable manner.