SEEDIG, CODI and the next chapter of a multilingual Internet
When we talk about digital inclusion, we usually start with connectivity, infrastructure, affordability and digital skills. But there is another fundamental question that deserves equal attention: Can people actually use the Internet, digital services and emerging technologies in the language they know best? For Southeast Europe, this is not an abstract question. Our region is characterized by linguistic diversity, different scripts, multilingual communities and a rich cultural heritage. Yet, as the Internet and artificial intelligence evolve, language can become either a bridge to digital participation or another barrier.
This is one of the reasons why SEEDIG has been a member of the Coalition on Digital Impact (CODI) from its very beginning.
Jump start in Belgrade
CODI was first introduced to wider community at a SEEDIG meeting in Belgrade in 2024. The idea behind the initiative was both simple and ambitious: language should never prevent anyone from accessing knowledge, communicating, doing business or participating in the digital world. SEEDIG recognized the importance of this initiative early on and became one of CODI’s founding members, alongside organizations representing Internet infrastructure, technical communities, civil society, the domain name industry and digital rights. Since then, CODI has developed into a global coalition working to make the Internet more inclusive from a linguistic and cultural perspective.
Its mission has become even more relevant with the rapid development of artificial intelligence. AI is changing how people discover information, interact with services and communicate online. However, if these systems understand only a limited number of languages and cultural contexts, the digital divide risks becoming even wider.
From Universal Acceptance to a much bigger challenge
Many of us in the Internet governance community are familiar with Universal Acceptance (UA). For years, UA advocates have worked to ensure that all valid domain names and email addresses, regardless of their language, script or length, are accepted and function properly across Internet applications and services. This work remains essential. Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) and Email Address Internationalization (EAI) are important building blocks of a multilingual Internet. However, CODI is helping us look at the bigger picture.
A language may be technically supported by a website or application, but that does not necessarily mean that people can use it throughout their entire digital experience. They may be able to read information but not enter it into a form, use a service, complete a transaction, find relevant content or understand a security warning in their language.
CODI’s Language Infrastructure Framework addresses precisely this challenge. It maps nine interconnected layers of digital language support, from character encoding and digital identity to applications, content, AI, transactions, trust and safety. The framework provides a useful way to understand why Universal Acceptance, while indispensable, is only one part of genuine digital inclusion.
AI is making language inclusion even more urgent
One of CODI’s most important areas of work is the relationship between language, cultural representation and artificial intelligence. There are more than 7,000 living languages in the world, but the most widely used AI systems support only a small fraction of them. This creates a serious risk: as AI becomes a primary interface to information and digital services, people whose languages are poorly represented may find themselves increasingly excluded.
CODI has been addressing this challenge through its Minimum Viable Dataset (MVD) Working Group, bringing together experts in linguistics, technology, data governance, ethics and digital rights. The group’s work focuses on identifying what linguistic and cultural data is needed to ensure that languages are meaningfully represented in AI systems. It is not simply about collecting more words or translating existing material. AI needs to understand context, local expressions, idioms, oral traditions and cultural references, and even local slang. This is particularly important for languages with limited digital resources and communities that have historically had little influence over the development of mainstream technologies.
Another significant development is CODI’s participation in a joint commitment convened by the Gates Foundation, bringing together 59 organizations around the ambition of enabling an estimated 3.4 billion people to use AI in their own language and voice over the next five years. These developments demonstrate that multilingual AI is no longer just a topic for academic research or specialist language communities. It is becoming a global digital development priority.
A global report with important implications for our region
In October 2026, CODI published its inaugural report, Global Web: The State of Digital Access, 2026. The report examines how languages are represented across the digital ecosystem and identifies the barriers preventing communities from fully participating online. One of its particularly important findings is that more than half of the last-mile organizations surveyed reported that the communities they serve cannot effectively navigate the Internet in their native languages.
The report also highlights a structural problem: although numerous digital development programs, technologies and initiatives exist, linguistic inclusion is rarely treated as a fundamental design requirement. Language is too often addressed as an additional translation feature rather than as an integral part of digital infrastructure.
The research identifies significant gaps in areas such as content availability, discovery and retrieval, online transactions, participation, and trust and safety.
It also makes an important distinction: Universal Acceptance is necessary, but not sufficient, for meaningful digital inclusion.
SEErious questions
Our region has a relatively high level of Internet connectivity and a developed telecommunications and Internet infrastructure. However, connectivity alone does not guarantee that every community can fully participate in the digital environment. We should consider how well our languages and scripts are represented in search engines, AI systems, educational resources, public administration platforms and commercial applications.
We should also look beyond the major languages of the region. Smaller linguistic communities, minority languages and languages with fewer digital resources may face additional challenges. For our governments, universities, registries, registrars, technology companies and civil society organisations, this is an opportunity to move beyond the traditional understanding of digital inclusion. We should be asking not only whether people have Internet access, but whether they can use digital services, access information, express themselves and benefit from AI in their own languages.
SEEDIG has always aimed to connect the Internet governance community across Southeast Europe, bringing together governments, businesses, technical organisations, academia and civil society. Language and digital inclusion naturally belong in this multistakeholder conversation.
Our region has the expertise and experience to contribute to CODI’s global work. We have domain name registries, Internet service providers, universities, language experts, developers, digital rights organisations and public institutions that can help identify local challenges and develop practical solutions. There is also an opportunity to bring regional experience into CODI’s research and working groups. The challenges faced by languages with relatively strong digital presence may differ from those faced by smaller and less-resourced languages, but the underlying question is the same: how do we ensure that technological progress does not leave language communities behind? SEEDIG’s membership in CODI provides a channel for connecting these regional perspectives with a global initiative. It also creates an opportunity to encourage more organisations from Southeast Europe to engage with CODI, contribute expertise and become part of the discussion about the future of multilingual digital infrastructure.
SEE you in Sarajevo
Soon, the SEEDIG community will meet in Sarajevo, and CODI will be presented as part of the program. This will be an opportunity to reconnect with the initiative that was first introduced to our community in Belgrade and to discuss how its work has evolved since then.
We hope this discussion will encourage participants to look at Universal Acceptance, language infrastructure and multilingual AI not as separate technical topics, but as interconnected elements of digital inclusion. The Internet was designed to connect people. Its next stage of development should ensure that language does not determine who can benefit from that connection.
An Internet that works for everyone must also be an Internet that speaks everyone’s language.
Dušan Stojičević