Dr. Stephen Moore, a lecturer at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Cape Coast, has been awarded a $30,000 research grant by Google. The grant will further research in Artificial Intelligence, particularly in natural language processing (NLP) for low-resource languages in Ghana and Africa.
NLP is a branch of AI that deals with how computers can process languages in the same way humans do. Dr Moore and the Ghana Natural Language Processing team have been developing text and speech translation tools in low-resource languages such as Twi, Dagbani, Ewe, Ga, Guruni, and Igbo. The group launched the first Ghanaian Language translator, Khaya, in collaboration with Algorine, a partner company. The app utilizes state-of-the-art language models from NLP to create a unified translator for several languages in Africa.
The grant from Google recognizes Ghana NLP’s efforts in developing essential tools and training volunteers in the field of NLP. Ghana NLP is a social enterprise dedicated to making NLP accessible to Ghanaians through training, workshops, and seminars. This grant is the first to be awarded to a Ghanaian researcher by Google, making it a significant achievement for the team.
The impact of Dr. Moore’s research and Ghana NLP’s efforts could significantly improve communication and understanding across different languages in Africa. This news is vital to the academic and scientific community and the general public, as it demonstrates the potential for technology to bridge language barriers and promote cross-cultural understanding.
Source: Myjoyonline
