Nigerian designs first AI platform for over 2000 languages

Ladesope Ladelokun

Motivated by the drive to expand the Nigerian, African Information and Communications Technology(ICT) market, create jobs and improve the living standards of Africans, a 41-year-old Nigerian and Information and Communications Technology expert, Emmanuel Gabriel,

has developed an Artificial Intelligence(AI) platform, ‘OBT Translate’, that will translate over 2000 languages.

Gabriel said the launch of ‘OBT Translate’ was expected to break communication barriers in Africa and create opportunities for people, adding that farmers will be able to trade their goods and services without language communication barriers.

The Nigerian-born scientist, who is based in Germany, says not less than 854 million people are living in sub-Saharan Africa in rural areas without access to global markets.

He lamented the spate of language extinction in Africa, stating that 52 native languages in Africa had died as they no longer have native speakers.

His words: “There are over 52 native languages in Africa, which have undergone language death, they have no native speakers and no spoken descendants.

Our machine language AI algorithms with neural network connection have curated billions of tasks waiting for Africans who can teach our machine their local dialect.

“The first phase of the project comes with nine billion tasks, and the second phase comes with 12 billion tasks. It is projected to hire about 100 million Africans with a projection of 3.6 billion USD passive incomes for Africans with the capacity.”

Gabriel explained that most people who migrate to Europe and the Americas for greener pastures do so for security purposes and the need to escape poverty.

He, however, urged African countries to ensure job creation and the implementation of the structural adjustment policies recommended by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

He adds that the invention is capable of creating jobs for 100 million Africans who can teach their machine pidgin English or their native languages.