African Languages Should Have a Say in AI Development

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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 ever-unfolding story of AI, and it’s to do with something almost as old as human history—language.

Just as language is an essential part of coding, it’s also an essential part that makes us who we are. And in the AI race, some academics are concerned that certain languages like African languages, are getting left behind.

“The creation of knowledge can be traced back as far as the beginnings of humanity. Computers are now in use, but in order to make progress, we must create [AI technology] that makes use of our languages, or else some of our cultures will disappear from history. A language that continues to be unwritten and unused in a written form is likely to die in 100 years,” said Professor Kwesi Kwaa Prah, a sociology professor and the founder and Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society.

Professor Prah shared these thoughts at a recent meeting at the Pretoria Design Justice AI Institute hosed by the University of Pretoria; an institute supported by various humanities centres that’s exploring “community-centred, humanistic, interdisciplinary engagement of generative AI.”

“Our languages are what make us…it is not our colour that determines who we are—it is our cultures. And when you think about culture, the main feature is language. That is the distinguishing feature between us and other animals—human beings create culture.”

Prof Prah is one of many academics around the world hoping to encourage AI developers and users to think bigger than their screens. For many, this means language and cultural preservation—something deemed entirely possible as many African languages share dialects (meaning they can be translated in a way that can be understood by many communities.”

Shared UP Interim Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Themba Mosia:

“The mathematical underpinnings of AI not only risk exacerbating existing inequalities and discrimination, but also present significant challenges related to manipulation and the spread of misinformation…Safeguarding human rights, including privacy and equality, as well as civil liberties such as education and cultural rights, demands rigorous attention throughout the design, development, deployment and use of AI technology. This responsibility primarily falls on professionals in the humanities, supported by colleagues in computer science, data science, statistics and legal disciplines.”