A newly developed te reo M膩ori AI voice will ensure that future generations grow up hearing and connecting with their own dialects, an AI expert from the 51萝莉 and Co-Director of the AI Institute says.
In testing and soon to be ready for use, the AI voice, created by master's student Kingsley Eng under supervision of Associate Professor is the first that speaks in the Waikato-Maniapoto dialect. The work was supported by , as is part of Waikato University's AI Institute's commitment to supporting sovereign AI solutions.
Dr Keegan wanted to make a Waikato-Maniapoto accent and says other iwi will be able to use it as a template for their dialects.
Dr Keegan (Waikato-Maniapoto, Ng膩ti Porou, Ng膩ti Whakaaue) believes the future of te reo M膩ori depends on rangatahi, the younger generation, and his commitment to supporting the normalisation of te reo M膩ori for them has driven him to take on this project.
鈥淚deally, we need them to grow up listening to voices and interacting with te reo M膩ori that they can readily identify with,鈥� he says.
鈥淲hile learning and being supported by dialects other than their own is better than no language support at all, rangatahi form a stronger and more personal connection when they can readily engage with their own dialect.鈥�
Being from the region, Dr Keegan wanted to make a Waikato-Maniapoto accent, and says other iwi will be able to use it as a template for their dialects.
鈥淚 think my approach really is looking after my backyard first but setting an example for other people's backyards.鈥�
He says this is important because future computing interfaces will be operated through voice rather than keyboards, which requires computers to respond with high-quality language.
Dr Keegan feels that M膩ori should take responsibility for building their own technologies.
鈥淲hat has been created is a generated or synthesised voice that will speak M膩ori language sentences with a pronunciation that has been tuned to the M膩ori ear.
"We worked with a well-known local authority on M膩ori language to record her speaking thousands of M膩ori sentences. The sound recordings were processed to create a language model that can generate spoken sentences from written text. The model produces speech so realistic that it's difficult to distinguish from the original speaker."
An email from Google one Saturday night offering an unsolicited award with funding enabled the development of this technology.
Initially wondering whether it was a hoax, Dr Keegan investigated further.
A reply resulted in Google offering him an unrestricted funding gift that was to be used for 鈥楶rotocols for responsible M膩ori language technologies鈥�. While the amount cannot be disclosed publicly, it was substantial.
Dr Keegan was somewhat overwhelmed, because research funding usually comes with some significant caveats.
鈥淭hat's a lot of faith to put in someone who is working primarily on languages that won't affect their bottom line,鈥� he says.
While the donation is welcomed and he is very grateful, he also feels that M膩ori should take responsibility for building their own technologies.
"We can't rely on a large international company to come and save our language. We've got no chance if that's the case because there are 8,000 languages in the world, and ultimately the people that most care about the language are the language speakers themselves.
鈥淭o save indigenous languages, indigenous people need to be building indigenous language technologies themselves.鈥�
Having started last year with the help of the Google funding, the Waikato-Maniapoto voice is currently in testing, and it鈥檚 expected to be ready to go in a couple of months.
鈥淚've had that idea in my head for a long time. But since the money came in, I was able to employ a Kingsley Eng, over the summer, and some M膩ori language experts, to really bring that dream to fruition. It is a credit to these people that the quality of work produced has been so high.鈥�
It's not the first time Dr Keegan has worked with Google. Around 14 years ago he spent six months working in the Google head office, working on the Google Translator Toolkit.
Having started last year with the help of the Google funding, the Waikato-Maniapoto voice is currently in testing, and it鈥檚 expected to be ready to go in a couple of months.
Dr Keegan says he鈥檚 spent countless hours developing the current directions forward for te reo M膩ori in technology.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not something I have ever questioned. It's really exciting for me. It keeps me up at night, when I should go to bed earlier.
鈥淧lenty of questions buzz around my brain like what do we need to get to this? What steps do we need to take to make this happen? I never look back counting the hours.鈥�
Dr Keegan, who is also Co-Director of AI Institute M膩ori and Associate Dean of M膩ori, has been acknowledged for his work with te reo in technology.
In June he was awarded the Living Icon award at the Te H膩pori Matihiko Awards in Christchurch.
A recognition of a lifetime of achievement in service to M膩ori and the digital technology sector, he went south to support the awards, not thinking he would be on stage.
"My daughter texted me in the morning and said, 鈥楬ave you got your speech ready?鈥� I texted her back to say there's no need because I'm not going to have to get up to talk. The other nominees are exceptional, and world recognised.
鈥淭he first thing I said when I stepped up for the acceptance speech was, 鈥楾his is awkward, I don鈥檛 have a speech prepared because I really didn't think I would win,鈥� so I had to make up a speech on the fly.鈥�
Not one to seek recognition, Dr Keegan has been surprised at how much impact his work has had on so many people.
Dr Keegan believes he鈥檚 one of few academics to be acknowledged at the H膩pori Matihiko awards and the first academic to be acknowledged with the Living Icon award.
