Toward An Ethical Approach to MT Development
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 8:11 am
This is important as it means that complete access is open for research and development
The FLORES-101 dataset, precursor of the current FLORES-200, was released open-source in June 2021 to create a benchmark for evaluating MT of low-resource languages. It has quickly been put to use since then, including during the 2021 Conference on Machine Translation. FLORES-200 improves upon it by extending its language coverage from a hundred languages to two hundred, and will continue to serve in this capacity.
In making the No Language Left Behind project open-source, Meta recognizes the development of MT and AI technology as a collective responsibility. Researchers are able to build on its gains instead of risking redundancy of efforts, allowing them to participate in developing the tech in a more meaningful capacity.
According to their research paper, “NLLB could motivate uruguay mobile database more low-resource language writers or content creators to share localized knowledge or various aspects of their culture with both cultural insiders and outsiders through social media platforms or websites like Wikipedia.”
This is important as low-resource languages face not only the danger of extinction but also the erosion of culture. Language and culture are inextricably tied together, and one of the benefits of the NLLB project is preserving the cultural heritage of its speaking communities.
Another dimension of the ethical approach that Meta is taking with the NLLB project is extensive consultation with the communities of these low-resource languages to understand how the work might impact their day-to-day lives, with an eye toward making sure that it doesn’t exacerbate inequalities in the digital sphere.
The FLORES-101 dataset, precursor of the current FLORES-200, was released open-source in June 2021 to create a benchmark for evaluating MT of low-resource languages. It has quickly been put to use since then, including during the 2021 Conference on Machine Translation. FLORES-200 improves upon it by extending its language coverage from a hundred languages to two hundred, and will continue to serve in this capacity.
In making the No Language Left Behind project open-source, Meta recognizes the development of MT and AI technology as a collective responsibility. Researchers are able to build on its gains instead of risking redundancy of efforts, allowing them to participate in developing the tech in a more meaningful capacity.
According to their research paper, “NLLB could motivate uruguay mobile database more low-resource language writers or content creators to share localized knowledge or various aspects of their culture with both cultural insiders and outsiders through social media platforms or websites like Wikipedia.”
This is important as low-resource languages face not only the danger of extinction but also the erosion of culture. Language and culture are inextricably tied together, and one of the benefits of the NLLB project is preserving the cultural heritage of its speaking communities.
Another dimension of the ethical approach that Meta is taking with the NLLB project is extensive consultation with the communities of these low-resource languages to understand how the work might impact their day-to-day lives, with an eye toward making sure that it doesn’t exacerbate inequalities in the digital sphere.