The Gates Foundation says a coalition of 60 organisations has commenced a 5-year initiative to expand access to artificial intelligence (AI) for people whose languages are under-represented in AI models.

The initiative aims to enable an estimated 3.4 billion people to use AI tools in their own languages and voices.

The foundation, in a statement on Monday, said the initiative was aimed at addressing a major gap in AI access.

It said that many of the world’s languages remained poorly represented in the data and tools used to develop AI systems.

Among the initial signatories are Data Science Nigeria and Lagos Business School, alongside major technology companies, research institutions, governments and philanthropic organisations.

The foundation said only a small percentage of the world’s roughly 7,000 languages were currently considered sufficiently resourced to support strong AI capabilities.

It said speakers of under-represented languages could, therefore, be underserved by AI systems that were less accurate, less useful or less capable of understanding how they communicate.

It said that the challenge went beyond translation, as dialect, slang, idioms and cultural context could alter meaning, with potentially serious consequences when accuracy was critical.

“Improving AI language and voice capabilities can make information and services more accessible in sectors like health, education, agriculture, financial services and public services,” it said.

The foundation said voice-based AI could be particularly important in communities where typing or text-based interfaces were less practical or accessible.

“For health, the initiative could have implications for access to health information and AI-enabled services among communities whose languages are poorly represented in existing systems.

“The participating organisations said they would work across four key areas, including building an open language-data infrastructure and developing benchmarks to measure progress.

“They would also convert language data into usable AI models and applications while ensuring responsible practices that protect privacy, consent and data sovereignty,” it said.

The foundation also called for investment in local ecosystems, including researchers and organisations with knowledge of the languages and communities involved.

It said such investment would support local ownership, capacity building and research, while enabling communities to play a greater role in developing language technologies.

The initial 60 signatories include the Gates Foundation, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Anthropic, NVIDIA, OpenAI Foundation, UNICEF and the World Bank Group.

Other signatories include the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Data Science Nigeria, Lagos Business School and the Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Affairs of Senegal, among others.

The foundation said its detailed governance structure and workstreams would be developed collaboratively over the coming year.

It also invited additional governments, companies, researchers, community organisations and funders to join the initiative and contribute expertise and resources.

It said that the five-year goal is for 3.4 billion people speaking languages currently under-represented by AI models to be able to use AI tools in their own language and voice. 

(NAN)