African Languages Should Have a Say in AI Development [Video]

Artificial Intelligence has all of us on the edge of our seats as developments continue to surprise, inspire and concern the world. But, more of the world’s people needs more say, which is why academics are fighting for the inclusion of African languages in AI!

Pretoria, South Africa (11 July 2024) — As most of us are well aware, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a part of how much of the world are acquiring and using knowledge in a myriad of weird, wonderful and sometimes worrying, ways.

What AI is capable of—both good and concerning—is at the hands of the prompter in most cases. For the everyday person, it can cook up visuals showcasing hilarious scenarios (like the Cape Town version of the Avengers), but it can also produce deceptive work that masquerades as news. It can help turn hard-to-digest information into an easy read, but it can also replicate the hard work of very real people.

But there’s another side to the …