Pioneering Somali-language
AI through world-class research & Transformative Technology
Advancing Somali-language AI and Natural Language Processing research through pioneering work in datasets, models, and innovation.
Leading the Somali-language AI Renaissance
Jamhuriya University of Science and Technology (JUST) established the Somali-language AI and Innovation Lab (SAIL) based on a strong belief in AI's transformative potential to enhance healthcare, agriculture, operational efficiency, and service accessibility.
The lab advances Somali-language AI technologies and innovation while laying a strong foundation for Somali Natural Language Processing (SomaliNLP) research, building on years of work that brought Somali-language technology to regional and international research venues.
An estimated population of over 22 million people speak Somali across Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, and diaspora communities. Despite this wide usage, Somali remains severely under-resourced in AI research due to limited datasets, annotated corpora, and language models.
Why Somali-language AI Matters?
LLM Revolution
Modern Large Language Models can learn from raw text through self-supervised learning, making AI development efficient and scalable for low-resource languages like Somali.
Digital Footprint
Growing Somali-language content from news portals, blogs, and social media provides essential data to train modern AI models and elevate the language from extremely to moderately resourced.
Native Expertise
A growing cohort of Somali researchers and engineers with NLP expertise provides the linguistic intuition and cultural context needed for effective, Somali-centric technologies.
Foundational Text AI
Somali-Dialect ASR
JUST Digital Transformation
Core Research Areas
Building data, tools, models, and practical NLP solutions that empower Somali language in the digital and AI age.
Speech-to-Text systems and voice assistants capable of understanding complex Somali phonetics.
Smart learning platforms and AI-powered tutors to personalize the Somali learning experience.
Curating high-quality datasets and predictive modeling for socio-economic forecasting.
Transforming research into AI mobile apps and Smart Government solutions for efficiency.
