Artificial intelligence can write code, summarize documents and answer questions in seconds. But ask it the same question in a smaller language, and the experience can suddenly change.
As large language models become part of everyday work, one challenge is becoming increasingly important: AI does not understand every language equally well.
For languages with enormous amounts of digital content, models have plenty of material to learn from. For smaller and lower-resource languages, including those spoken across the Balkans, the story is different.
Why smaller languages matter in the age of AI
Modern AI systems learn from vast amounts of text. The quality, quantity and diversity of that data can influence how well a model understands context, meaning and the nuances of a language.
That makes language more than a technical challenge. As AI becomes embedded in search, education, business, public services and everyday communication, the ability to use these technologies effectively in local languages becomes a question of accessibility too.
This is why researchers and engineers are increasingly working on language technologies designed for languages that have historically received less attention from global AI development.
One example comes from our region: ModernBERTić, a modern language model developed for Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian. Trained on more than 60 billion tokens from 22 sources, the project explores what becomes possible when smaller languages are treated as a priority rather than an afterthought.
Building an AI future that speaks more languages
The question is no longer simply how powerful AI can become. It is also who gets to use that power in their own language.
As language models continue to evolve, developing better datasets, benchmarks and models for smaller languages will be an important part of making AI more useful across different markets and communities.
And it raises a bigger question: if language shapes how we understand the world, what happens when the technology shaping our future understands some languages better than others?
That conversation is coming to IT SPOT 2026 in Podgorica. Discover the people bringing AI, technology and new ideas to the stage on our IT SPOT 2026 Speakers page.