Orange Partners With OpenAI and Meta to Expand AI Models for African Regional Languages

Orange Partners With OpenAI and Meta to Expand AI Models for African Regional Languages
French telecommunications company Orange, serving 292 million customers worldwide as of September 30, 2024, announced on November 26 its partnership with OpenAI and Meta to fine-tune AI large language models (LLMs) for understanding African regional languages that are currently unsupported by any generative AI model. Orange aims to expand open-source AI models to include African regional languages for the first time, promoting digital inclusion.

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Fine-Tuning OpenAI and Meta AI Models

Orange plans to fine-tune OpenAI’s open-source speech models and Meta’s openly available Llama 3.1 model to support regional African languages. This project aims to develop custom AI models that enable customers to communicate naturally in their local languages with Orange for customer support and sales.

These AI models will also be made available under a free license for non-commercial uses, such as public health, education, and other community services, Orange confirmed.

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African Language Recognition project

Orange intends to help drive AI innovation in these regional languages including by collaborating on these new AI models with local startups and other technology companies, and by doing so, to mitigate the growing digital divide faced by people all across the African continent.

The project is set to launch in the first half of 2025, with an initial focus on Wolof and Pulaar, spoken by approximately 16 million and six million people, respectively, in West Africa. Orange said its long-term goal is to collaborate with AI providers to develop models that recognise all African languages spoken and written across its 18-country footprint in the region.

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Orange’s AI Vision