Røða hjá Bárði á Lakjuni, landsstýrismanni, tá Kringvarpið helt á norðurlendskari ráðstevnu um miðlar og vitlíki í Smæruni 6. novembur 2026
Good morning, Nordic colleagues and friends – including those of you who follow online!
Thank you for the intriguing welcoming words, Magnus Dam. You represent a very important institution in our society. Kringvarp Føroya, or KVF, is our public service broadcaster and our public watchdog. KVF brings news and stories, it enlightens us and entertains us. We generally have a high level of confidence in KVF and believe that what you bring is based on facts and evidence.
For the Faroe Islands, as a small country with our own language and media landscape, the technological and AI development presents both significant opportunities and serious challenges.
It is crucial to have free and independent media in a world where deepfakes, disinformation and misinformation have so easy access to our news channels. We must be able to trust that our public service media are based on ethical values and are trustworthy. That they make sure that what they bring has been verified.
In a world that is increasingly more incoherent and threatened by war and other crises, it is crucial to have media that we can rely on!
Today’s topic is artificial intelligence and how it affects media. In all society, AI has a huge impact. It has invaded our daily lives so to speak, and we have strategies and policies about AI. Personally, I think that we must be very careful when we use AI. Does it make us wiser, or does it lead to lazy brains? How will it affect our future generations? This is one part of the issue. Another part is the use of intellectual properties and creators’ rights. Protecting media content and creators' rights is very important in the work with AI. Transparency and fair conditions lie at the heart of using content to train or feed AI systems.
It is also very important that we are aware that AI has a massive impact on our language and culture. That is why I am very happy that we have established the Centre for Language Technology that works with many areas including language models. The local work ensures a distinctly Faroese perspective while we are working internationally.
Technological progress is normally seen as a good thing. But artificial intelligence is so radical and comprehensive that it can be seen as a two-edged sword. It can help us, but it can also confuse us and distort reality.
In my opinion, it is very important that we ensure that AI is used very consciously and that it contributes to strengthen rather than to marginalise a small language and culture. The influence on media is equally of great importance. It will be interesting to hear the discussion today on how AI influences media, and how the various media have found their ways to work with AI while simultaneously keeping all journalistic and ethical standards.
We must do our utmost to safeguard independent and trustworthy journalism. I am sure that AI can support journalists in many ways, but I think that the editorial work and responsibility must remain in human hands and minds.
I am very pleased that this conference takes place in Tórshavn today, and that it will discuss many important issues concerning media and AI. This year, Denmark and the Faroe Islands share the presidency in the Nordic Council of Ministers, and the conference is part of the collaboration programme and has also been supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Strong independent media constitute essential democratic infrastructure.
If AI can help us create a more diverse and informed media landscape – not one where smaller languages, independent voices and trusted journalism gradually disappear – then we can speak of progress and have gained a lot.
Thank you for joining, and I wish you all a very good conference!