The Good of AI in the Realm of Language Learning

One area where AI has shown real promise is language preservation, especially for Indigenous languages that have long faced hard barriers. Many were suppressed by policy, residential schools, and stigma; today they still contend with few teachers, scarce materials, wide dialect variation, and limited support in mainstream tech. AI can help turn community recordings and texts into practical tools: searchable transcripts of elders’ speech, text-to-speech that makes written materials audible, and simple pronunciation checkers that guide learners on a phone. These are not replacements for community teaching, but they can extend it, lower access barriers, and keep more language in daily use. The guardrails matter just as much as the technology: community ownership of data, clear consent, and culturally grounded validation. Used on those terms, AI can help protect what was nearly lost and make everyday learning easier. 

Please visit the links below to learn more about how AI is being used to preserve and strengthen Indigenous languages around the globe: