{"id":947,"date":"2022-03-04T15:18:50","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T20:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/62-830\/s2022\/?p=947"},"modified":"2022-03-04T17:34:31","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T22:34:31","slug":"947","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/62-830\/s2022\/?p=947","title":{"rendered":"Language Preservation and Artificial Intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How would the modern world function without language? Languages are entities that are alive and in constant flux. They hold keys to our historical heritage and develop as we acquire new vocabulary. So what would happen if we lost it? The extinction is not recent; however, the pace at which languages are disappearing today has no precedent and is alarming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are over 7,000 languages in the world. <\/a>This diversity of languages, cultures, and thoughts is a healthy sign. A world with a monoculture would negatively affect the world. About 3,000 languages are in danger of becoming extinct. We are vulnerable to losing our culture and part of human history if we let these languages go, carrying devastating consequences. With every lost language, we lose an enormous cultural heritage; the understanding of how humans relate to the world around us; scientific, medical, and botanical knowledge, and most importantly, we lose the expression of communities’ humor, love, and life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are many reasons why languages go extinct; for this article, we’ll be focusing on technological advances and biases in Artificial Intelligence data collecting and the consequences of how that might neglect rarer languages.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A majority of the information on the internet is in English, and it has become the unofficial global language in business. Artificial intelligence takes the reins of more and more Internet queries, data collection and analysis, and learns the subtleties of spoken languages like English. The challenge for national languages is to balance using English for international trade and as an instrument for progress while still retaining the unique elements of one’s own culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the initiatives to support this mission is the Endangered Language Project<\/a> which puts technology at the service of the organizations and individuals working to confront language endangerment by documenting, preserving, and teaching them. Through their website, users can access the most up-to-date information on endangered languages, in addition to playing an active role in putting their languages online by submitting information or samples. This data is vital so that AI can collect and help preserve the language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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