Firm develops AI to support Nigerian languages
NaijaVoices, a local-language artificial intelligence (AI) speech project, has developed technology that enables voice assistants to understand and respond in Nigerian languages such as Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa. The initiative, led by Abraham Owodunni, a PhD researcher at The Ohio State University, has produced a speech dataset of over 1,838 hours from 5,455 native speakers […]
NaijaVoices, a local-language artificial intelligence (AI) speech project, has developed technology that enables voice assistants to understand and respond in Nigerian languages such as Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa.
The initiative, led by Abraham Owodunni, a PhD researcher at The Ohio State University, has produced a speech dataset of over 1,838 hours from 5,455 native speakers and more than 645,000 unique sentences. The dataset is publicly available on HuggingFace for researchers, developers and businesses.
According to Owodunni, the project addresses a long-standing gap in voice AI systems, which have historically failed to support Nigerian languages. He said the team worked directly with communities to gather culturally relevant text prompts and authentic recordings, improving accuracy for local accents and expressions.
Potential applications include healthcare, finance, emergency services, education and customer care for non-English speakers. The project also trains local talent in natural language processing and speech technology, while prioritising ethics, consent and diversity in data collection.
NaijaVoices is supported by partners including Lacuna Fund, Meta, McGill University, Mila, Masakhane and Intron. The model was documented in a research paper published at Interspeech 2025.
The team has also launched a ₦4 million Language Heritage Micro-Grant to support projects that document and revitalise Nigerian languages, and plans to expand coverage to more African languages.
Owodunni said policy support requiring public services and major platforms to offer local-language options would boost inclusion and adoption.