The World Bank has selected Malawi to pilot an artificial intelligence (AI) initiative aimed at enabling people to access information and digital services in local languages.
With funding from Gates Foundation, the project will train AI models to understand and communicate in Chichewa, potentially opening up access to information for millions of Malawians who primarily use local languages.
Speaking in Lilongwe on Tuesday during a workshop on the Language Data Library Initiative, World Bank Development Data programme manager Holly Krambeck said the project seeks to close the language gap that continues to limit access to information, particularly among rural populations.
She said Malawi was chosen to pioneer the initiative because of ongoing efforts to build language resources that can be used to develop AI systems tailored to local needs, adding that the project has already collected about 7 000 hours of Chichewa audio recordings from radio programmes, which will be used to train AI to understand and respond to users in their own language.
Said Krambeck: “With support from the Gates Foundation, we are working to close the language barrier in accessing information. We have collected Chichewa language data from local radio stations, media houses and government information platforms to help incorporate the language into AI models.”
Minister of Defence Feston Kaupa , who represented the Malawi Government, welcomed the initiative, describing it as a significant step towards ensuring that Malawi is not left behind in the rapidly evolving digital economy.
He noted that global AI systems have traditionally been developed around major international languages, leaving many African languages, including Chichewa underrepresented in the digital ecosystem.
