The Welsh Government has struck a partnership with UK-based AI company Cosine to improve how artificial intelligence handles the Welsh language. Announced Friday, the deal will see the government supply data, resources, and expertise to strengthen Welsh-language capability inside Cosine's Lumen AI model.
The move targets a persistent gap in language technology: major AI systems often perform poorly in Welsh, a language spoken by roughly 900,000 people. By feeding Lumen better training data, the government aims to make Welsh a functional option for everyday digital tasks - from accessing information to workplace communication.
What the partnership covers
Under the agreement, the Welsh Government will share datasets and linguistic expertise with Cosine. The company will use those resources to improve how Lumen processes and understands Welsh. The work focuses on practical use cases, not academic research - making the technology usable for people who switch between Welsh and English throughout their day.
Cosine CEO Alistair Pullen framed the deal as part of a broader effort to build AI on a more representative foundation. "Welsh is an essential part of the UK's linguistic landscape," he said. "This work with the Welsh Government helps us build Lumen on a stronger foundation, with better representation of the languages and public context that matter across the UK."
Government backing for bilingual technology
The partnership aligns with the Welsh Government's long-running strategy to ensure Welsh survives and adapts in digital environments. Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language, Anna Brychan, said the language "belongs to us all" and stressed that representation in everyday technology matters. "It's important that Welsh is fully represented in the technologies people use to access information, learn, work and communicate," she said.
For government teams, the deal signals a practical commitment to AI for Government use cases that reflect Wales' bilingual reality. The partnership also supports the Welsh Government's broader push to ensure new technologies recognise and accommodate multilingual users - a pattern seen in bilingual communities worldwide.
Economic and infrastructure angle
Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy, Adam Price, pointed to the economic dimension. "AI has the potential to bring real benefits to our economy, public services and communities," he said. Price emphasised that working with sovereign AI companies like Cosine helps Wales build the skills and capability needed to adopt these technologies on its own terms, rather than relying solely on systems built elsewhere.
The focus on sovereign AI - technology developed and controlled within the UK - reflects a growing priority for governments that want infrastructure aligned with national interests, particularly around language and cultural data.
Why this matters for government professionals
For civil servants and public-sector leaders, this deal is a concrete example of how language policy intersects with technology procurement. When government agencies adopt AI tools for citizen services, Welsh-language performance is often an afterthought. Cosine's work with Lumen, backed by direct government input, creates a model for how public bodies can shape AI to meet statutory bilingual obligations - rather than waiting for commercial products to catch up. If you work in service design, procurement, or digital transformation, the partnership signals that AI Translation and language capability are becoming core requirements, not optional add-ons, in government technology contracts.
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