When we usually hear about open source projects in most cases, programs or utilities come to mind for everyday work purposes. Although this is not the case as such, since open source covers many more areas.
One of them is artificial intelligence that is currently growing in an incredible exponential manner, although some years ago it was believed that it would be something that would develop well many years later.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently used for various cases, of which the most popular are for the detection of objects, people, patterns among other things. It is also used within translators of which many of them are patented by companies.
But in this case we will talk about an open source project which has aroused the interest of many as it is developed to cover a great need in the African territory, which is communication since it is currently estimated that in Africa there are around 2000 languages
Masakhane a project that must be fulfilled for a common good
The project we will talk about is "Masakhane" which is a project that was founded by South African AI researchers Jade Abbott and Laura Martinus and the project is collaborating with AI researchers and data scientists from all over Africa.
When they met at a conference related to machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) this year, they talked about a project to translate African languages into machine learning models and started Masakhane. The name of the project "Masakhane" is a word that means "to do together" in Zulu.
Languages that allow automatic translation in Masakhane include not only native African languages, but also the Nigerian Pidgin dialect in English and Arabic spoken in North and Central Africa. Unlike European languages, these languages have no specific benchmarks or large data sets.
In addition to the importance of giving Africans several opportunities, the benefits of developers participating in Masakhane are listed as "The success of the African AI projects is an African AI researcher." It could lead to relaxed restrictions. ”
Currently in Masakhane it has about 60 developers in Africa (South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria) of which each participant collects data in their native language and trains the model.
In Kenya, English is often used in schools and other public places, but in everyday life different languages are used for each tribe, so Siminyu felt there was a communication gap. It was. Therefore, AI developer Siminyu decided to join Masakhane.
Siminyu believes that translating African languages through machine learning will lead to growth in the use of AI in Africa, which will help people in Africa use AI in their lives. Siminyu argues that projects across the continent, such as Masakhane, are important to connect African developers and research communities and achieve long-term and sustainable collaboration.
“Language differences are a barrier, and eliminating the language barrier will allow many Africans to participate in the digital economy and, ultimately, in the AI economy. "I feel it is the responsibility of those who participate in Masakhane to get people who are not involved in AI society," said Siminyu.
“We can solve the problem. We have experts, we have knowledge and intelligence ... I think they will become a foothold to contribute to the world. An African developer says.
Finally, if you want to know more about the project, you can check the details on their official website. The link is this.
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