AI Could Understand Several African Languages Very Soon
A new collaboration between Orange, OpenAI and Meta will begin creating spoken word language models for various African languages.
The adoption of AI in Africa still needs to catch up to the Western world. Telecommunication giant Orange might help accelerate things with its new project, which focuses on AI large language models (LLM)understanding regional languages spoken across Africa.
In partnership with OpenAI and Meta, the project will initially focus on Wolof and Pulaar, languages spoken by millions of people in West Africa. Orange’s long-term goal is to work with many AI technology providers to enable future models to recognize all African languages spoken and written across the 18 countries in which Orange operates.
The project aims to help customers communicate in their local languages with Orange for sales and customer support services. The telecoms service provider will provide these OpenAI source models externally for non-commercial use, including public health and education. Orange hopes to make AI and other related services available to many people in Africa, “including illiterate populations, who are currently unable to benefit from the potential of artificial intelligence.”
There’s no timeline for when this project will become operational, which might be made longer by a shortage of data to train the LLMs. A severe shortage of data isone of the general challenges of AI development in Africa. However, Orange’s undertaking would be significant, helping to create a foundation and framework for future projects related to African languages.
This project also represents a critical step towards addressing the digital language divide in Africa, where most AI models predominantly support European and global languages. By focusing on local languages like Wolof and Pulaar, Orange enables technological access and preserves linguistic diversity and cultural representation. The initiative could be a model for other telecommunications and technology companies seeking to develop more inclusive, locally relevant AI solutions in underserved regions.