Participants of the event in a group picture
Google Research Africa, the University of Ghana (UG), and UCL’s Global Disability Innovation Hub (GDI Hub) have announced a partnership to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) speech recognition technology for non-standard speech in the country.
The initiative titled, “tɛkyerɛma pa” (“Good Tongue”), focuses on improving AI-powered speech recognition technology for five major Ghanaian languages; Akan, Ewe, Ikposo, Dagbani, and Dagaare.
The announcement was made during a tech talk and press event recently held at the Google Ghana office, Accra.
Project tɛkyerɛma pa is supported by a $40,000 grant from Google and research expertise from UCL’s GDI Hub provided through the AT2030 programme.
Under the project, Google Research scientists will directly train and support University of Ghana researchers and students to develop and refine speech models for the five languages.
This initiative underscores the theme of “AI by Africa for Africa,” showcasing how locally-led AI innovation can have a broader, global impact.
Project Lead / Associate Professor, University of Ghana, Prof. Isaac Wiafe, said the tɛkyerɛma pa project aims to address the challenges with non-standard speech recognition tools by training AI models to better understand these speech patterns in local languages.
“We are thrilled to lead this important initiative, which reflects our commitment to using technology to solve real-world challenges. By developing localised AI solutions, we can ensure that more Ghanaians have the opportunity to communicate effectively, regardless of their speech patterns.”
The event was also used to present the progress of Project Euphonia, a research initiative designed to improve Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) for individuals with non-standard speech.
Katrin Tomanek, Senior Research Scientist, Google Research, said, “We hope to use the insights we’ve learned from our work in Project Euphonia to help local researchers create ASR models for local languages.”
Academic Director, GDI Hub, Prof. Cathy Hollowaya, also said “Expanding the reach of AI-powered recognition to more languages is crucial to ensure people living with non-standard speech can communicate more effectively with people and devices in their daily lives.
This collaboration will not only benefit individuals in Ghana but also provide valuable insights for global AI development. It will lay the foundation for future language models and collection in Africa, which we will support through our AT2030 programme.”
The announcement marked the launch of the data collection phase, where local speech therapists will gather diverse speech samples from individuals across the country.
Following this, the project team will train and refine ASR models tailored to the nuances of non-standard speech in Ghanaian languages.
Looking ahead, the team aims to expand this technology to other languages and regions, ensuring the benefits of AI are shared widely.
A Daily Guide Report