Uniting 600 Million People and 1,300+ Different Languages with AI

Southeast Asia-home to more than a thousand different languages and a riot of distinctive cultures, religions, traditions, and cuisines-is among the world's most complex regions. Diversity of that magnitude poses enormous challenges for even the most sophisticated large language models-especially if those models have been trained on other languages.
Can AI bridge linguistic and cultural differences that have divided Southeast Asia for centuries? And if so, what economic opportunities might that unlock?
Kisson LIN, Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer, Mindverse AI Sambit SAHU, Senior Vice-President, Silicon Design, Ola Krutrim Leslie TEO, Senior Director, AI Singapore, Lead, SEA-LION Caroline YAP, Managing Director - Global AI Business and Applied Engineering, Google Cloud Moderator: Matt HEIMER, Executive Editor for Features, FORTUNE; Co-chair, Fortune Brainstorm AI Singapore
#AI #language #languagebarrier #aitranslator
Subscribe to Fortune -
www.youtube.com...
Fortune Magazine is a global leader in business journalism with 55 million monthly page views and a readership of nearly 32 million, with major franchises including the Fortune 500 and the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. The new Fortune video channel dives into personal stories from business owners and entrepreneurs becoming successful in business and sharing their tips to help you reach your goals.
Website: fortune.com/
Facebook: / fortunemagazine
Twitter: / fortunemagazine
TikTok: / fortune

[@Earworms]

Sure, AI has 'the potential' to bridge these linguistic and cultural gaps, but it must overcome some mighty challenges to do so, and do it well.
The sheer number of languages, many of which are low-resource, makes it difficult for AI models to perform well across the board. Unlike widely spoken languages like English or Mandarin, languages such as Javanese or Khmer may not have sufficient training data, leading to less accurate translations and learning tools. And, language is deeply intertwined with culture. AI models that are trained primarily on Western languages may struggle to grasp the cultural nuances present in Southeast Asian languages. Southeast Asian languages like Thai, Burmese, and Lao have complex scripts and grammatical structures that differ significantly from those of Western languages. This complexity adds another layer of difficulty for AI models in terms of text recognition, translation, and contextual understanding. If AI could effectively bridge these linguistic and cultural gaps, the economic potential is of course immense; trade, tourism, education off the top of my head.
While AI-powered translation tools are increasingly sophisticated, will they ever be able to fully replicate the deep understanding and cultural nuances that come with actually learning a language? I don't think so! When you learn a language, you gain more than just vocabulary, you immerse yourself in the culture, context, and emotions behind the words. This leads to more meaningful communication and the ability to connect with people on a personal level, something AI cannot achieve. Additionally, relying solely on AI limits your ability to engage in spontaneous, real-time conversations, which are essential for genuine human interaction.
We're often asked to add more asian languages to our Earworms Musical Memorisation Method to learn languages ie. @earworms. Unfortunately it simply wouldn't be viable, and maybe even if we were to leverage AI ourselves. Perhaps addressing the region's unique challenges with AI, will be the only way....😀

[@Semper_Iratus]

Not everyone wants to be your friend.