Latest news with #IndigenousLanguages
Malay Mail
03-08-2025
- Science
- Malay Mail
Inside LatAm-GPT: Chile leads regional effort to build culturally relevant AI with a Latin American pulse
Latam-GPT aims to reflect Latin America's culture Trained on nearly 3 million regional documents Aims to use AI to preserve Indigenous languages BUENOS AIRES, Aug 3 — 'Tell me the most recent relevant books and novels from Chile.' That was the prompt Chilean engineers at the state-run National Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA) gave OpenAI's ChatGPT to test its grasp of Latin America culture. But when the chatbot replied with only titles by renowned Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and not much else, researchers were not impressed. 'It seemed like it only knew Neruda's work,' said Carlos Aspillaga, a computer science engineer at CENIA, who worked on the project. 'The model lacked diversity and wasn't locally accurate. Worse, some of the books it mentioned didn't even exist, or had factual errors.' The exchange highlighted a key limitation of mainstream AI, revealing that it struggles with regional precision and nuance. That means its responses can lack accuracy or contain mistakes when addressing highly localised matters, particularly in small countries with languages other than English. Mainstream large language models, though equipped with multilingual capabilities, are predominantly trained on English-language content that still dominates the internet. Much of the data related to Latin America comes from Spain, or is translated from texts originally written in English, which could explain why the models often fail to produce content that feels authentic or culturally grounded to Latin American users. That realisation sparked CENIA's two-year effort to create a GPT-style language model rooted in Latin America and one that reflects the region's diverse culture and languages. The result is LatAm-GPT, set to launch this September as the first large language model in the region. Built with input from more than 30 regional institutions, and developed specifically for Latin America, it is a milestone in a global AI race that could leaving emerging economies behind. 'What's crucial for Latin America is to jump on this technology now,' Aspillaga told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 'We're at a point where it's still feasible to adopt and adapt existing techniques. Maybe in five years, that window would close. This lets us start building our own know-how,' he said. Building cultural nuance Unlike widely known models like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Meta's LLaMA, LatAm-GPT flips the dynamic of relying heavily English language and global North datasets. It is exposed heavily to Latin American data, with an important focus on local languages, idioms and expressions. The team is also working on preserving Indigenous languages. The first version of LatAm-GPT includes around 70 billion tokens — words and word fragments — in Spanish, Portuguese and English. It draws from more than 8 terabytes of regional data and nearly 3 million documents, including books, Wikipedia entries, and a myriad of texts obtained through partnerships with libraries and universities across Latin America and Spain. The largest economies in the region — Brazil and Mexico — contributed the bulk of this material. While smaller in scale than the most advanced global models, its architecture is closer to ChatGPT-2 than the current GPT-4, but LatAm-GPT's edge lies elsewhere. It is not the quantity, but the quality of the data and its relevance. 'We're feeding the model concentrated knowledge about Latin America,' said Aspillaga. 'Global models aim to cover all the world's knowledge. We're focused on a niche where we can actually outperform them.' CENIA researchers believe LatAm-GPT could be especially useful in schools and other local applications that need accuracy on regional affairs. 'Right now, the available models aren't accurate or complete when it comes to local issues. They don't understand how locals speak or think,' Aspillaga said. 'It shouldn't be the person who adapts to the technology, it should be the technology adapting to them.' Indigenous languages Another goal of the center is to help preserve endangered Indigenous languages. One of its most prominent projects has taken place 3,700 km off the Chilean coast, on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), often described as the most remote inhabited place on Earth. There, researchers worked with the local community to build an AI-powered translator for the Rapa Nui language, part of a broader strategy to revitalise and digitally preserve it. 'Rapa Nui is currently at risk because there are very few fluent speakers,' said Jackeline Rapu, who leads the Rapa Nui Language Academy. 'This digital repository is really important. It supports all the linguistic revitalisation efforts we've been working on and helps young people reconnect with the language.' Latin America is not alone in building home-grown models and AI-powered tools. Around the world, governments are racing to create AI systems tailored to local languages and needs. The United Arab Emirates government, for example, has launched Falcon and Jais to advance Arabic AI. India is developing BharatGPT to support more than 14 regional languages, led by public universities and backed by the Department of Science & Technology, in partnership with AI firm CoRover. In South Korea, tech giant Naver Corporation has introduced HyperCLOVA for Korean, while AI Singapore, a national programme funded by Singapore's government, is building SEA-LION to serve Southeast Asia. LatAm-GPT's development also reflects growing political momentum for AI cooperation in the region. In April, Chile and Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly advance AI research, with Brazil officially joining the LatAm-GPT initiative. Last year, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva unveiled a national AI strategy that includes investing more than US$4 billion (RM17.1 billion) by 2028 to boost the industry, while Argentina has expressed ambitions to become a global AI and data hub. Today, major platforms offer slightly more nuanced answers to prompts about Chilean literature. The same query today no longer just mentions Neruda, but also brings up other renowned authors like Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral or Chilean writer Jose Donoso. 'When it comes to AI, we're always going to be behind countries like the United States, but that doesn't mean we can't do something useful, and that's our ultimate goal,' Aspillaga said. — Thomson Reuters Foundation
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Chile leads push for 'Latam-GPT'
More than 30 Latin American institutions are collaborating to build their version of ChatGPT, trained on local languages and nuances. Artificial intelligence chatbots made by US firms are available in other languages, but their Spanish-language capabilities are largely powered by data that is from Spain or translated from English text, which can lead to inaccuracies, Rest of World wrote. The Chile-led 'Latam-GPT' project is trained on text from local schools, libraries, and historical documents, and is designed to include Indigenous languages and dialect variations. Latin America has been seen as slow to adapt to AI; researchers in Southeast Asia, East Africa, and India have already pushed forward with efforts to tailor AI to their populations and languages. Solve the daily Crossword
ABC News
07-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
NT elders fear Aboriginal languages are being lost, as communities band together to help save them
Three years ago, the United Nations issued a dire warning: Australia was one of dozens of countries facing a mass extinction event. But it wasn't flora or fauna that was at risk of being lost — it was languages. A previous UN forum had found 40 per cent of the estimated 6,700 languages around the world were in danger of disappearing — most of them Indigenous. In the three years since, dozens of Australian Indigenous communities have fought back against that decline, working with archives and the knowledge of elders to revitalise their native languages. In northern Australia, the effort last month brought together more than 50 Indigenous leaders from over 30 languages groups for a forum on protecting languages. The leaders developed a list of recommendations across a broad range of areas, including education and employment, to be finalised and presented to stakeholders in late August. For Rarrtjiwuy Herdman — one of the organisers of the Top End Langauges Forum — language preservation has been a lifelong passion. She has been working to keep her native language of Dhaŋu alive, a Yolŋu language from north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Ms Herdman said time was running out for some languages, with the passing of more Aboriginal clan elders in recent years. "I've sadly only recently lost another family member, a speaker of Dhaŋu, a mentor and a father to me," she said. The Yolŋu woman said in order to keep clan languages alive, they needed to be spoken at work, in the community and in schools. "There's an assumption that all of our languages are equally being support[ed] across the Top End area," Ms Herdman said. "Some of our languages are being supported in schools [and] in community … but a few of our languages are actually endangered." While Ms Herdman is worried about languages becoming "extinct", she is also afraid the younger generation is becoming lost without their language. "The sense of responsibility to continue our languages is something that our elders and leaders are worried about, and particularly for our clan languages," she said. In 2022, the United Nations launched the International Decade of Languages global action plan, in response to the thousands of international Indigenous languages it said were disappearing at "alarming rates". At the time, a research paper led by the Australian National University found Australia had one of the worst records in the world for language loss. According to a 2019 survey by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), out of 250 Indigenous Australian languages that were active prior to colonisation, only 12 were still being actively acquired by children. The report also showed that more than half of Indigenous Australian languages still in use were only being spoken by elders. Three years on from the launch of the global action plan, AIATSIS Centre for Australian Languages director Lauren Reed said Australia was in a better position. She said the Australian government had since "seen the real need to turn the tide on language loss" and set up a national policy partnership to address the issue. "There are signs of hope that have been growing since the beginning of [2022]," she said. Ms Reed said many Indigenous language speakers needed to feel their language was "relevant" to the Western world, including seeing it used in mainstream and social media. She said she liked to think of out-of-use languages as "sleeping" rather than "extinct". Renfred Manmurulu, a speaker at the forum, presented about his South Goulburn Island language, Mawng. Mr Manmurulu said in many traditional practices, such as Mawng songlines, culture was inseparable from language. "It's a window of who you are and where you're from," he said. Mr Manmurulu said he had noticed many in the younger generations choosing to speak the "dominant" Indigenous language dialect of their region over other, "endangered" dialects spoken in smaller communities. "If you don't use the language — if you, say, use the universal language English more often than your own language — well then, that's the ending of the language," he said. He said he hoped young people could come up with new ways of using technology to make their dialects more widespread.
ABC News
07-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
Speaking in my ancestors' tongues
Dr Ray Kelly Snr is the Chair of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council. He is a Dhangatti and Gumbayngirr man who grew up in Silver City, an Aboriginal Reserve outside Armidale. His mother tongues have surrounded Ray his whole life. The creativity of language and storytelling drew him in, around the fire at night. Ray's Nan would bring to life her grandfather, Joe Woods, the medicine man with his two medicine dogs. When Ray's grandfather was asked to translate the word "telephone" into Gumbayngirr, he responded, 'muuya barrigi'. Flying breath. As an adult, when Ray started listening to recordings of his elders, collected in the 1960s and 70s, he heard something new. Further information Originally broadcast April 2024. Read about Ray's work reviving Indigenous languages with the Wollotuka Institute at The University of Newcastle. Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.
CBC
04-07-2025
- Automotive
- CBC
Indigenous man's 'jaw nearly hit the counter' when told he could write driver's test in Ojibwe
The former chief of Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation got an early birthday surprise when he was able to write part of his driving test in Ojibwe. Jason Henry, who holds a commercial (Class A) driver's license, said he went for the 5-year renewal last week at the Ontario Drive Test centre in Sarnia. When asked what language he preferred, he said he gave his usual answer. "English, unless you can offer me Ojibwe," Henry said. The clerk's response was a total shock. "My jaw nearly hit the counter. Out of principle, my entire life, I've always asked for Ojibwe. I've never gotten that offer anywhere until Monday." Ojibwe, or Anishinaabemowin, is an Algonquin language with a variety of dialects spoken across Canada and the northern United States. It's considered an endangered language, with 14,535 Indigenous people in Ontario self-reporting in 2021 that they spoke Ojibwe. That same year, the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) added Ojibwe, Oji-Cree and Cree as language options for driving tests. In total, there are 27 languages available. As an Indigenous language learner who started studying Ojibwe as an adult, Henry was thrilled to not only write but to pass the knowlege of signs test in his language. The road knowledge and air brake endorsement tests were only available in English "We will continue our work to eliminate barriers and improve access to driver licensing services for Indigenous communities across Ontario," MTO spokesperson Julia Caslin wrote in an email Wednesday. Henry was told that if he failed the test in Ojibwe he would have to pay a fee to retake it, but he said it was worth the risk. Ojibwe leans on imagery The grammar of Ojibwe makes a multiple-choice test tricky for a second language learner, he explained, as it is incredibly precise. Harder still, in the absence of direct translations, the language leans heavily on description. If a sign indicates a divided highway merging into a single-lane highway, it could be described something like 'ahead the road will come together.' Henry gave another example of a stop sign question. "It's 'you definitely must stop now and not move further,'" he said. "It's very explicit in the language, not just 'stop,' which was pretty cool for me to see." Henry has since shared his discovery on social media, in the hopes that others in his community will follow suit. The Drive Centre clerk told him he was the first to ever ask for an Ojibwe test at that location. "For the young Indigenous boy who always asked for Ojibwe first and was always got told 'no', it's unbelievable how happy I was to actually have somebody say, 'that's an option today'," Henry said. "Anytime there's an option to have good representation with our language, our images, our people and institutions, it makes it a little easier for us to succeed."
