Mali to use AI in school to teach children local languages

Malian authorities have announced the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to help school students learn languages, Africanews reported on November 27th.

Mali is a region known for its diverse range of languages, with 13 official languages listed in its 2023 constitution. Although French is no longer included as an official language, the language of their former coloniser is still deeply embedded into daily life in Mali. This extends to classrooms, where French is still widely spoken.

Authority figures in Mali expressed hope in changing this fact and endowing students with the ability to read and write in local languages. As a result, the Education ministry has incorporated RobotsMali, an AI company, into their curriculum. RobotsMali has reportedly created hundreds of stories in Bambara, the most widely spoken language in the Sahel country, that students can read at school. Other AI tools such as ChatGPT and Leonardo have also been claimed to be used to write, translate and illustrate these stories.

The Malian government expressed optimism for the decision, citing AI-generated stories as a solution to the lack of books written in local Malian languages. RobotsMali’s incorporation into the classroom exists along a string of failed attempts from the government to replace the French-centric education that has superseded official Malian languages such as Bambara. This has been tried since Mali gained independence from France in 1960, however people have claimed a lack of resources has hindered this initiative.

Head of RobotsMali, Mamadou Dembele was excited at the prospect of his AI model being used in classrooms. “Since the stories are also illustrated, it teaches [students] to make the connections between words and their meaning very quickly,” Dembele said. “It makes me proud to see mu little brothers and sisters learning with so much joy.”

Students also expressed similar attitudes. “It helps me speak better with my friends. All of this is good,” said 13-year-old Clarisse Yasségué Togo. “At school, we only speak French.”

Ultimately, the imitative has been framed as an empowering way for Mali to escape its history with its former colonial power of France. Although the two countries have made strides towards normalisation, their relations have always been notably tumultuous with Mali’s positioning as a Sahel State Alliance nation, as well as its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) fuelling some tensions. Earlier this month, France urged its citizens to flee Mali amid a jihadist fuel blockade.

Despite this, there are also ethical concerns surrounding using AI in the classroom that must be considered. AI seems to have negative impacts on the environment that calls into question the sustainability of its use in the classroom. Furthermore, replacing time that students could spend with traditional Malian texts to use AI-generated content also potentially threatens the cultural authenticity of what is being taught in the classroom, sacrificing a cultural dimension of Malian students’ learning.

Overall, RobotsMali’s incoporation into the classroom signals new developments in Mali’s education sector. With an initiative that can bolster language-learning Mali, the nation’s hopes of breaking out of its French-colonial shackles seem to be rising.

Africanews, Maghrebi.org, Digit News