#209 Sourcing Language Data from the Four Corners of the Earth with XRI Global’s Daniel Wilson

SlatorPod

Daniel Wilson, Founder and CEO of XRI Global, joins SlatorPod to talk about the company's focus on low-resource languages and its efforts to bring digital equality to communities lacking online language support.
With a background in linguistics and research on endangered languages in the Caucasus Mountains, Wilson's journey led him to establish XRI Global to address the challenge of building AI tools for languages with limited data availability.
The CEO highlights the importance of domain-specific data collection and the need to tailor solutions based on the specific needs of each community, ranging from humanitarian organizations to governments and religious groups.
The company's approach includes leveraging large language models and machine translation to provide conversational AI capabilities even for offline communities or areas where internet access is limited.
Wilson also touches on the legal and ethical considerations involved in data collection, emphasizing the importance of complying with data laws and obtaining proper consent.
Looking ahead, XRI Global plans to expand its language support to over 50 languages in 2024 and continues to explore advancements in on-device AI capabilities for broader accessibility.

Kapitler

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. Professional Journey into Language Tech (00:01:00)

3. Languages of the Caucasus (00:03:15)

4. Overview of XRI Global (00:07:22)

5. Target Markets (00:08:12)

6. Defining Low-Resource Languages (00:09:22)

7. Challenges with ChatGPT (00:11:10)

8. Sourcing Language Data (00:12:02)

9. Impact on Remote Communities (00:15:42)

10. Breaking Down Language Barriers and AI Impact (00:18:19)

11. Challenges in Implementing Languages Online (00:20:33)

12. Machine Translation and Synthetic Data (00:22:19)

13. AutoPolyglot Experiment and Data Generation (00:24:33)

14. Advancements in Language Processing Technologies (00:28:23)

15. Legal and Ethical Considerations in Data Collection (00:30:19)

16. Roadmap for 2024 (00:32:41)