Latest news with #PeterMackay
The National
10 hours ago
- Business
- The National
Parents could request Gaelic schools to be built if law passes
Under the plans in the Scottish Languages Bill, councils would be required to assess if the request was practical and affordable. After taking advice, ministers may direct local authorities to proceed with the establishment of a new Gaelic school if the authority's assessment considers it to be viable. Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic Kate Forbes set out the measures on a visit to Bun-Sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis, a Gaelic primary school in Inverness, alongside Scotland's first Gaelic-speaking Makar Dr Peter Mackay. READ MORE: Views sought on plans for major renewable 'energy park' in Perthshire Forbes said: 'This bill aims to build a strong foundation to support Gaelic's continued growth following an encouraging increase in Gaelic speakers and learners across Scotland. "It would boost Gaelic education provision throughout Scotland and better establish Gaelic and Scots as national languages. 'Gaelic medium education enriches communities and offers good value for money. Gaelic medium schools frequently demonstrate above average performance with some local authorities showing better grades across all qualification levels despite costs being no greater than English medium schools. 'To support the growth of Scotland's indigenous languages, we are also providing an additional £5.7 million to promote Scots and Gaelic this year.' The bill also includes provisions for establishing Gaelic and Scots as official languages and enabling parents in every part of Scotland to apply for Gaelic nursery and early years places for their children. Census statistics show that 130,161 people in Scotland had some Gaelic skills in 2022, an increase of 43,105 people from 2011. READ MORE: Fresh investment in Gaelic will propel Scottish pupils to success Meanwhile, the census shows that 2,444,659 people in Scotland had some Scots skills in 2022, an increase of 515,215 from 2011. Stage 3 of the bill is expected to be considered next week on Tuesday, June 17. Mackay said: 'It's fantastic to have seen the growth of Gaelic medium education over the last 40 years: it's something we should be very proud of. "It's vital that there's ongoing support to maintain and develop Gaelic as a community language in the Highlands and Islands and to give people all over the country every chance to learn and speak it – and also to encourage Scots speakers and communities across Scotland."
BBC News
10-02-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Scotland's Makar: New writing needs protection from AI
Scottish writers and publishers are considering innovative ways to tackle challenges they face from artificial intelligence (AI).Scotland's Makar Peter Mackay said he had "huge concerns" about the technology in terms of the creation of new literature and tools available include ones designed for research, and others that can suggest sentence structures, character traits, dialogue options and plot Mackay said among ideas to better protect new writing included food packaging-style guides for work written by computers, and special logos for the covers of AI-free books. Lewis-born Gaelic poet Mackay was appointed Scotland's national poet in original makars were medieval poets or bards, often tied to the royal court and expected to make work for significant the past two decades, Scottish cities have appointed their own makars and in 2004 the first national poet was Mackay is eager to encourage new he said: "I have got huge concerns about AI in terms of the creation of new literature and creation of new books, partly because as a writer it could be disastrous for new people who are in the profession."It's very hard to make a living as a writer anyway and if you are having to compete with the cumulative knowledge of every book written before condensed into some form of conglomerate, that is very hard to do." A simple guide to help you understand AI Last year, Mackay attended a workshop for writers, publishers and academics where AI was a topic of looked at how it might be possible to make it clear a piece of writing was not computer Mackay said: "One of the things that was discussed was a Harris Tweed Orb or Kitemark-style mark to say 100% AI-free or 100% organically produced."Harris Tweed's Orb logo is sewed in clothing, and other items that use the fabric, to show the tweed has been handwoven and finished by islanders in the Western Isles, and made from wool dyed and spun in the British Standards Institution's Kitemark has been used as a trademark on UK-made products for more than 120 Mackay said alternatively books created using AI could include a break down of the sources of its style and sentence structure, similar to way additives are listed on cereal boxes."It might outline this is 1% Vladimir Nabokov, 2% Gertrude Stein," he said. Mackay is a judge on this year's Highland Book Prize and he believes the competition and other literary awards could also play a part in protecting AI-free writing."I think one of the things book prizes do is celebrate oddity, celebrate diversity, celebrate distinctive style, the kind of thing that AI doesn't do at the moment," he said."It is the odd turn of phrase rather than the expected turn of phrase and I would hope that book prizes are still able to do that."They offer a marker of really interesting, new, distinctive voices."He added: "I dread the first time a prize is won by something that turns out to be AI generated."Where would that leave the people who have been sitting for hours by themselves scribbling away having to compete with computer-generated poems, short stories and novels?"
