Week 1—No language left behind

Week 1—No language left behind

Main reading: “Meta AI Research Topic: No Language Left Behind” (n.d.); “New AI Model Translates 200 Languages, Making Technology Accessible to More People” (2022)

Other reading: Cameron (1999)

On a multilingual campus like ours, and in a place like Sydney, it will probably not be surprising to learn that some languages are big and others are small. Even languages with a lot of speakers are often invisible in global media. In this kind of world, languages change all the time, and sometimes they die. Linguistic diversity is either treated as a common heritage to be protected or a technical problem to be overcome. For Facebook, it’s both! What do you think?

Our first class won’t be able to draw any definitive conclusions about machine translation as a means to social inclusion. I ask this question because I want us to get to know each other. We all have different perspectives, and that means we will all see something different in the No Language Left Behind project at Facebook.

In this class, we will also discuss the assignments for the class and share ideas about how to run each seminar meeting to help each of you get the most out of this class.

References

Cameron, Deborah. 1999. “Language: (De)racialising Linguistics.” Critical Quarterly 41 (4): 52–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8705.00263.

“Meta AI Research Topic: No Language Left Behind.” n.d. AI at Meta: Research. Accessed January 11, 2024. https://ai.meta.com/research/no-language-left-behind/.

“New AI Model Translates 200 Languages, Making Technology Accessible to More People.” 2022. Meta (blog). July 6, 2022. https://about.fb.com/news/2022/07/new-meta-ai-model-translates-200-languages-making-technology-more-accessible/.