diff --git a/CHANGES.current b/CHANGES.current
index 2f48aa2b6..5b6ff9445 100644
--- a/CHANGES.current
+++ b/CHANGES.current
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ the issue number to the end of the URL: https://github.com/swig/swig/issues/
 Version 4.4.0 (in progress)
 ===========================
 
+2025-06-27: ianlancetaylor
+            Use unsafe for Go strings rather than byte arrays.
+            Update minimum Go supported version to 1.20.
+
 2025-06-23: jschueller
             #3184 #3196 [Python] Support multi-phase module initialization.
 
diff --git a/Doc/Manual/Go.html b/Doc/Manual/Go.html
index 13c657799..6b063584c 100644
--- a/Doc/Manual/Go.html
+++ b/Doc/Manual/Go.html
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ code.  SWIG fills this gap.
 There are (at least) two different Go compilers.  The first is the gc compiler
 of the <a href="https://golang.org/doc/install">Go distribution</a>, normally
 invoked via the <a href="https://golang.org/cmd/go/">go tool</a>.
-SWIG supports the gc compiler version 1.2 or later.
+SWIG supports the gc compiler version 1.20 or later.
 The second Go compiler is the <a href="https://golang.org/doc/install/gccgo">
 gccgo compiler</a>, which is a frontend to the GCC compiler suite.
 The interface to C/C++ code is completely different for the two Go compilers.
diff --git a/Examples/Makefile.in b/Examples/Makefile.in
index dec9b1609..98b6d6c85 100644
--- a/Examples/Makefile.in
+++ b/Examples/Makefile.in
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ $(GOPATHPARENTDIR)/go.mod:
 	@mkdir $(GOPATHDIR) 2>/dev/null || true
 	echo "module swigtests" > $(GOPATHDIR)/go.mod
 	echo "" >> $(GOPATHDIR)/go.mod
-	echo "go 1.12" >> $(GOPATHDIR)/go.mod
+	echo "go 1.20" >> $(GOPATHDIR)/go.mod
 	mv -f $(GOPATHDIR)/go.mod $(GOPATHPARENTDIR)/go.mod
 
 go: $(SRCDIR_SRCS) $(GOPATHPARENTDIR)/go.mod
diff --git a/Lib/go/cdata.i b/Lib/go/cdata.i
index 77b08ec7a..6905bd73b 100644
--- a/Lib/go/cdata.i
+++ b/Lib/go/cdata.i
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ struct swigcdata {
     $result = nil
   } else {
     b := make([]byte, p.size)
-    a := (*[0x7fffffff]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p.data))[:p.size]
+    a := unsafe.Slice((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p.data)), p.size)
     copy(b, a)
     Swig_free(p.data)
     Swig_free(uintptr(unsafe.Pointer(p)))
diff --git a/Lib/go/go.swg b/Lib/go/go.swg
index 8f5bb4fcd..ede17e7da 100644
--- a/Lib/go/go.swg
+++ b/Lib/go/go.swg
@@ -485,10 +485,10 @@ rvrdeleter.reset($1); %}
 %{
   {
     p := Swig_malloc(len($input) + 1)
-    s := (*[1<<30]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p))[:len($input) + 1]
+    s := unsafe.Slice((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p)), len($input) + 1)
     copy(s, $input)
     s[len($input)] = 0
-    $result = *(*string)(unsafe.Pointer(&s))
+    $result = unsafe.String((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p)), len($input) + 1)
   }
 %}
 
diff --git a/Lib/go/gostring.swg b/Lib/go/gostring.swg
index 44cbbb8ee..001708113 100644
--- a/Lib/go/gostring.swg
+++ b/Lib/go/gostring.swg
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ static _gostring_ Swig_AllocateString(const char *p, size_t l) {
 type swig_gostring struct { p uintptr; n int }
 func swigCopyString(s string) string {
   p := *(*swig_gostring)(unsafe.Pointer(&s))
-  r := string((*[0x7fffffff]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p.p))[:p.n])
+  r := string(unsafe.Slice((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p.p)), p.n))
   Swig_free(p.p)
   return r
 }
diff --git a/Lib/go/std_string.i b/Lib/go/std_string.i
index 35b4a5e46..f6af8e14f 100644
--- a/Lib/go/std_string.i
+++ b/Lib/go/std_string.i
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ class string;
 %{
   {
     p := Swig_malloc(len($input))
-    s := (*[1<<30]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p))[:len($input)]
+    s := unsafe.Slice((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p)), len($input))
     copy(s, $input)
-    $result = *(*string)(unsafe.Pointer(&s))
+    $result = unsafe.String((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p)), len($input))
   }
 %}
 
@@ -65,9 +65,9 @@ class string;
 %{
   {
     p := Swig_malloc(len($input))
-    s := (*[1<<30]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p))[:len($input)]
+    s := unsafe.Slice((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p)), len($input))
     copy(s, $input)
-    $result = *(*string)(unsafe.Pointer(&s))
+    $result = unsafe.String((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p)), len($input))
   }
 %}
 
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ class string;
 %{
   if $input != nil {
     p := Swig_malloc(len(*$input))
-    s := (*[1<<30]byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p))[:len(*$input)]
+    s := unsafe.Slice((*byte)(unsafe.Pointer(p)), len(*$input))
     copy(s, *$input)
     $result = (*string)(unsafe.Pointer(&s))
   } else {