A Cree-speaking Alexa bot?

Indigenous communities across the globe are fighting to retain their languages, which serve as means through which cultures, knowledge and traditions are preserved and transmitted between generations.

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to help. Whether it be through a voice service like Amazon’s Alexa that teaches Indigenous knowledge and languages to children, or speech-to-text technology that can facilitate language preservation, Professor Noelani Arista is exploring how the sovereignty of Indigenous knowledge can be maintained through ever-transforming technology.

Arista, who is the Director of the Indigenous Studies Minor Program and Professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies, collaborates with other Indigenous scholars, computer scientists and community members to craft solutions to challenges faced by Indigenous communities and create interdisciplinary approaches to indigenizing AI.