Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala: AI, Indigenous Languages, and Digital Inclusion

Innovation for Societal Benefit

• 💡 Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala views innovation as a tool to serve society, a perspective shaped by his time at the University of Pretoria.
• 🚀 The "Abstracts into Indigenous Voices" project exemplifies this by using AI to make academic research accessible to those who need it most.

Addressing AI's Ethical Divide

• ⚠️ A critical ethical question is "Who benefits from AI and who is left behind?", as advantages are far from evenly distributed.
• 🌍 The widening digital divide risks entrenching existing global inequalities, particularly for communities in the Global South.
• 🗣️ Underrepresented languages, such as Jew hi, lack sufficient digital resources, leading to AI systems being unable to recognize or engage with them.
• 🚫 Without intentional action, entire communities could be excluded from the digital future if AI replicates current inequities.

Preserving Indigenous Languages

• 🔑 Prof. Marwala emphasizes the significance of preserving mother tongues as they are vessels of cultural heritage and identity.
• 📚 His research highlights the challenges faced by underrepresented languages in AI, underscoring the urgent need for digital resource development.

UNU's Role in Global AI Governance

• 🌐 The United Nations University (UNU) plays a unique role in shaping the global AI agenda through policy-relevant research and fostering cooperation.
• 🤝 UNU is deepening its partnership with the University of Pretoria through the "Rich Africa" hub, focusing on resilience, agriculture, climate, and health for Africa.
• 📈 UNU is expanding its global AI research footprint with a new institute in Bologna, Italy, dedicated to guiding innovation in AI and digital policy.

Accessible Knowledge for All

• ✅ The future of AI is not predetermined but will be shaped by the voices and choices made today.
• 🎯 The "Abstracts into Indigenous Voices" project aims to expand multilingual scholarship and affirm that knowledge should be accessible to all.
• 🛠️ As Oren Etzioni stated, "AI is a tool; the choice about how it gets deployed is ours," emphasizing human agency in its application.