OpenAI, Meta, and Orange Partner to Train AI on African Languages

BREAKING NEWSNovember 26, 2024 at 4:15 PM UTC

TLDR

OpenAI, Meta Platforms, and Orange SA collaborate to train AI models on African languages, focusing on Wolof and Pulaar initially.
Project aims to address the lack of representation for Africa's diverse dialects, expanding to languages like Lingala, Swahili, and Bambara.
Models will support customer engagement in Orange's markets and aid sectors such as public health, education, and local businesses.

OpenAI and Meta Platforms, in collaboration with Orange SA, will begin training AI models on African languages to address the lack of representation for the continent's thousands of dialects. The initiative, set to launch in the first half of 2025, will initially focus on West African languages Wolof and Pulaar, spoken by 22 million people.

Orange plans to extend the project to other AI firms and additional languages, including Lingala, Swahili, and Bambara. The models will enable customer engagement across Orange’s 18 markets in the Middle East and Africa and support public health, education, and local businesses.

The company will use cloud capacity and data centers in Europe and Africa for the project but has not disclosed data sources. OpenAI will provide Orange with early access to its models and support data processing.

You can follow Daba’s reporting on Africa on WhatsApp. Sign up here

Key Takeaways

This initiative addresses Africa’s underrepresentation in AI by targeting languages with millions of speakers but little digital presence. By building large-scale language models, the partnership aims to improve access to AI for underserved populations, particularly those excluded by literacy barriers. Success could establish a framework for expanding AI's impact in diverse and resource-limited regions globally.

Technology

Business

Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI

Meta Platforms

Orange SA

West Africa

LLM