What is “hey hi” in your language? Data scientist provides some terms in Yoruba

An overview of Afrilinguistics-AI + a review of a contribution

The magnificent capability of Artificial Intelligence dominates tech talk worldwide. 

On the Africa front, however, the discourse revolves around development of AI tools that serve the needs of African people. With Big Tech investing in AI models tailored towards African (linguistic) needs, part of the discussion is the knowledge aspect. 

How can AI knowledge be passed down to people with no technical background? 

In this regard, tech experts are finding a way to make AI knowledge accessible to all. The efforts are on many fronts and multimedia. Though African languages have been classified as low-resource languages,  experts proficient in various indigenous languages have conducted research into barriers to AI adoption and inclusion on the continent. One of the steps towards solving the knowledge gap is the curation of explainer contents.

This is with the understanding that talking about AI in indigenous languages has its advantages, beyond its importance in research or for the development of models. It brings clear understanding of AI jargons to speakers of a language, and essentially makes them understand how AI works. For instance, a Yoruba speaker who lacks technical knowledge may not know what clustering algorithms or transformers means in AI conversations. 

Equipped with technical expertise, speakers of  African languages have developed many materials helping the spread of AI knowledge and adoption. They have created explainer videos — among others — in local languages to aid comprehension, and there is also progress in translation of AI terms into different local languages. 

While many experts have contributed to this domain, Tech in Yoruba by Data Scientist Wuraola Oyewusi will be spotlighted in this post. In a series of videos posted on YouTube and social media, the data scientist explains tech concepts in Yoruba language. 

Also in a 2024 conference paper titled, AI literacy in low-resource languages: Insights from creating AI in Yoruba videos¹, the author identifies challenges and opportunities for AI inclusion in Africa.

The aim of creating AI in Yoruba videos, according to the author, is “to bridge the gap and empower communities with the knowledge and understanding of this transformative technology (AI)”.

The author cites researchers as saying that low-resource languages are thus classified “due to lack of data, digital tools and research expertise”.  

One of the challenges in AI inclusion identified by the data scientist is the lack of existing vocabulary in local languages, particularly Yoruba. Thus, the author provides Yoruba equivalent of 22 AI terms:

1. AI — Ọgbọ́n Àpinlẹ̀rọ

2. Machine Learning — Ìkẹ́ẹ̀kọ́ ẹ̀rọ

3. Computer vision — Ìríran ẹ̀rọ

4. Data science — Sáyẹ́nsì àkíyèsí

5. Machine Translation — Òngbifọ̀ ẹ̀rọ   

6. Recommended Systems — Èro Àsàyàn

7. Voice assistant — Ohùn aranilọ́wọ́

8. Clustering algorithms — Algọ́rídímù Ẹlẹ́gbẹ́jẹgbẹ́

9. Transformer — Akẹ́ẹ̀kọ́gbésìjáde

10. Sentiment analysis — Àgbéyẹ̀wò Ìtara

11. Topic Modelling — Ìsọ̀rí àkọ́lé

12. Large Language Model — Awosé èdè ńlá

13. Chatbots — Asọ̀rọ̀gbèsì

14. Self attention — Ìfojúsíaraẹni

15. Positional coding — Ìṣààmìsí ipò

16. Named entity recognition — Afinipeni

17. Text Embedding — Aṣojú ọ̀rọ̀ alásopọ̀

18. Semantic similarity — Íjọra ọ̀rọ̀ atúnmọ̀

19. Generative AI — Ọgbón àpinlẹ̀rọ aṣẹ̀dá

20. Search Engine — Ọpón àwárí

21. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) — Algórídíìmù aṣẹ̀dá

22. Optical Character Recognition — Asawòràndikíkọ

Efforts by AI researchers, data scientists and engineers like Oyewusi are key to the advancement of AI in Africa. In addition, the push for the adoption of the Small Language Model — instead of the Large Language Model — can also accelerate progress in this area as individuals and big and indigenous tech companies team up to develop powerful tools with fewer resources.

Before you run off…

We’d love to feature more works similar to Tech in Yoruba. So please share any valuable resources to us via this mail.

Knowledge Nugget

• International mother language day: How EqualyzAI is building AI to preserve Africa’s languages — TechCabal

• Lelapa AI introduces framework prioritising African languages — ITWeb

• Why tech giants must do more for African language inclusion —GlobalVoices

1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378736592