Latvian Language and AI
Does AI Speak Latvian?
Yes, AI writes, understands and speaks Latvian, but not equally well at every task. In text, global models handle it; in speech recognition the result depends on recording quality; and in voice generation, the result has to be checked against your own text, since no vendor publicly measures Latvian voice quality.
How well do AI models handle Latvian?
Global large language models write and understand Latvian, but Latvian is a small share of their training data compared with English. In practice this shows up in the details: case endings, long vowel marks, terminology, and anywhere a sentence runs long and complex.
In autumn 2025, the Latvian company Tilde released TildeOpen LLM, a 30-billion-parameter model trained on 29 billion words of Latvian text. Since February 2026 it has been integrated into a publicly available machine translation platform that covers 34 European languages.
On how good it is compared with global models, the only public information is the developer's own first-round published tests. There is no independent comparison for Latvian, so it is fair to read these numbers as the developer's claim, not an industry measurement.
| Comparison | What the developer claims |
|---|---|
| TildeOpen LLM vs. GPT-4o | 24% better in Latvian |
| TildeOpen LLM vs. LLaMA-3 | 41% better in Latvian |
| Independent comparison | Not publicly available |
Does AI understand spoken Latvian?
Speech recognition in Latvian is not new: Tilde's tool has been available since 2016, and even then it recognized about 80% of what was spoken, given good recording quality. That condition is exactly what decides the result in practice — a phone line, background noise and multiple speakers hurt it more than the language itself.
Specialized work is also happening in narrower domains. The Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AiLab) at the University of Latvia's Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, working with Riga East University Hospital, is building a specialized Latvian speech corpus — a path where the language is prepared for one specific field rather than for the whole world at once.
How AI speaks Latvian: our own experience
This part can't be read off a vendor's page, so we're writing it from our own work experience. We generate Latvian voice for client videos regularly, and what breaks is the same thing every time:
- Numbers. If the text has "€300" or "2026," the voice reads it wrong or mechanically. We write numbers out as words the way a person would say them out loud — that fixes most of the problem.
- Long vowel marks and the palatalization mark. Some tools simply ignore them, and what comes out sounds like a foreign language wearing Latvian words. You notice it within the first few seconds.
- Foreign terms and abbreviations. Brand names, "CRM," "B2B" and English terms are often pronounced as if they were Latvian words. It helps to spell them the way they sound, not the way they're written.
- Long sentences. Intonation falls apart partway through the sentence. Shorter sentences do more for a Latvian voice than any setting does.
- Every voice has to be checked against your own text. Two tools listed with identical "Latvian language support" can sound completely different on the exact same text.
Why can't you just look up which tool is best at Latvian?
Because no such list exists. Vendors publish language lists that include Latvian, but public measurements of how well a specific tool performs in Latvian specifically, and specifically over a phone line, are not published.
So the practical order is reversed: instead of picking a tool from a list, take your own real text — one customer email, one script, one question asked over the phone — and run it through two or three tools. The difference is usually audible immediately and doesn't take a week to find.
What don't we know about Latvian and AI?
Honestly: there is no public data on how widely small and medium businesses in Latvia already use Latvian-speaking AI solutions, or what the real-world result has been. There is also no public cost data for custom, Latvian-supporting solutions — the price is worked out separately in each case.
That's why this article doesn't have a percentage for time saved, and doesn't claim any specific tool is "the best for Latvian." Where the data doesn't exist, it's more honest to say so than to fill the gap with a nice-looking number.
What's happening nationally with Latvian in AI?
The Latvian government published a national AI strategy in February 2020, and in April 2026 a nationwide initiative on artificial intelligence in education was announced, aiming to improve student and teacher skills by 2030.
A different date matters more in practice for a business: as of 2 August 2026, the EU AI Act's transparency requirements are in force, which means a customer has to be told they're talking to a machine, even when it speaks flawless Latvian. We've covered exactly what that requires separately: do you have to disclose that a robot is answering.
How we do this
We generate Latvian voice for client ad videos and check every recording by ear before it goes to the client. We prepare the text so the voice reads it correctly: numbers written as words, short sentences, abbreviations spelled the way they sound.
If you need a Latvian-speaking chatbot or an email AI agent, in the first 90-minute consultation we go through your real text and tell you where Latvian will be a problem and where it won't. The conversation is free.
Sources
- Tilde on TildeOpen LLM (05.09.2026.)
- researchLatvia on the Latvia-built model (05.09.2026.)
- Kursors.lv: TildeOpen adapted for translation (2026) (05.09.2026.)
- Kursors.lv: Latvian speech recognition (2016) (05.09.2026.)
- University of Latvia IMCS Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AiLab) (05.09.2026.)
- University of Latvia LFMI: development of a specialized Latvian speech corpus (05.09.2026.)
- Digital Skills and Jobs Platform: Latvia's national AI initiative (05.09.2026.)
- EUR-Lex: summary of the EU AI Act (05.09.2026.)
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT speak Latvian well?
It writes and understands Latvian, but Latvian is a small share of its training data compared with English. In practice that means errors in case endings, long vowel marks and terminology, especially in long sentences. For shorter, specific tasks, the result is usually good enough.
What is TildeOpen LLM?
A large language model built by the Latvian company Tilde, released in autumn 2025: 30 billion parameters, trained on 29 billion words of Latvian text. Since February 2026 it has been integrated into a publicly available machine translation platform covering 34 European languages.
Is TildeOpen better than ChatGPT in Latvian?
The developer's own published first-round tests claim it is 24% better than GPT-4o and 41% better than LLaMA-3 in Latvian. There is no independent comparison for Latvian publicly available, so these numbers are the developer's claim, not an industry measurement.
How accurately does AI recognize spoken Latvian?
Tilde's speech recognition tool has been available since 2016 and even then recognized about 80% of what was spoken, given good recording quality. In practice, noise, phone lines and multiple speakers affect the result more than the language itself.
Which tool has the best Latvian voice?
There is no public answer to that: vendors don't measure or publish Latvian voice quality. The only method that works is taking your own real text and running it through two or three tools — the difference is usually audible right away.
Why does AI voice read numbers wrong in Latvian?
Because digits get read by a default rule, not by context. The fix is simple: write numbers out as words the way a person would say them. The same applies to abbreviations and brand names — it's better to spell them phonetically.
Is it OK to let AI talk to a customer in Latvian without saying anything?
No. As of 2 August 2026, the EU AI Act's transparency requirements state that a person must be informed they're interacting with AI, no later than the first interaction. That applies even to a flawlessly-speaking Latvian voice.
Is there data on how many Latvian businesses already use Latvian-speaking AI?
Not publicly. It's known how many businesses in Latvia use AI in general, but there's no separate statistic specifically for Latvian-speaking solutions and their results. That's why this article doesn't include a percentage for that.
Let's test Latvian on your own text
Send us one real piece of text: a customer email, a video script, or a question your customers ask over the phone. In a free 90-minute consultation we'll run it through the tools and tell you where Latvian will be a problem and where it won't.