A new Gaelic speech platform to be built on the voices of native Western Isles speakers has secured £600,000 in Scottish Government funding to support digital recording, transcription and translation.

AITEAL – which means “ray of light” – will help develop advanced technologies, including AI, for Gaelic speakers.

The project will initially create four jobs, including three fieldworker posts and a dedicated Project Manager. Over 18 months, the team will record up to 500 hours of high-quality spoken Gaelic in the Western Isles and Skye.

This data can then be used to improve existing technologies like speech-to-text software or develop new ones such as Gaelic AI chatbots. It could also be used to create educational resources or automated transcription and subtitling services.

AITEAL has been created by the Gaelic arts organisation Fèisean nan Gàidheal alongside the charity Community Enterprise and digital technology partner Northcode Digital. 

It is one of the successful projects to benefit from Round 11 of the Scottish Government’s CivTech programme, which provides critical support to Scotland’s most promising and growing tech start-ups.

Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic Màiri McAllan announced the award on the final day of the Royal National Mòd: “The lack of data on Scottish Gaelic presents a significant barrier in developing technologies for Gaelic speakers. AITEAL aims to overcome this, ensuring Gaelic language and culture thrive.

“This exciting project will enrich communities, safeguard cultural heritage and unlock economic opportunities, providing lasting benefits for Gaelic speakers.

“AITEAL has the potential to be of international significance as it can provide a model which other languages can follow to overcome digital inequality.”

CEO of Fèisean nan Gàidheal and Director of AITEAL Limited, Calum Alex Macmillan, welcomed the funding, saying the project was looking forward to working with Gaelic speakers, recording the language as it is naturally spoken and capturing the richness of its dialects and idioms in everyday use.

“AITEAL presents exciting opportunities to make Gaelic more accessible and usable across all aspects of community life, from education and healthcare to public services, workplaces and everyday interactions in our communities,” he added.

“The company’s ambition extends beyond the initial 18-month development and data collection phase. Established to provide long-term stewardship of both the project’s linguistic resources and supporting technology, AITEAL will oversee the management, governance and future development of the data. It also creates potential opportunities for future specialist roles as the initiative grows and evolves.”