OpenAI, Meta, and Orange Join Forces to Train AI for African Languages – Africa.com
OpenAI, Meta, and Orange are collaborating to develop AI models that support African languages, addressing the lack of representation in current AI systems. The project will launch next year and will initially focus on Wolof and Pulaar, two languages spoken by about 22 million people in West Africa. Eventually, Orange will expand the program to include languages such as Swahili and Lingala. The company plans to use its own data centers as well as cloud infrastructure in Europe and Africa to complete the project. Currently, most leading AI companies use US-centric data to train their models. Therefore, when these models are applied to non-Western settings, they fail to understand contextual and cultural nuances. This project aims to change that and provide free technology to support public health, education and local businesses. Orange plans to build the initiative into a blueprint for making artificial intelligence accessible to underserved populations, including illiterate communities.
source: business insider
