The project, launching in 2025, aims to incorporate regional African languages into AI models like OpenAI’s Whisper speech model and Meta’s Llama series to enable local users to engage with customer support and sales.
Orange will offer the fine-tuned AI models externally via a non-commercial license for uses in services like public health and education.
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Orange also plans to work with local startups and technologies on the AI project to “mitigate the growing digital divide faced by people all across the African continent.”
Orange said its long-term goal is to work with AI technology providers to enable future models to recognise all African languages spoken and written across the company’s 18-country footprint in the region.
“Orange’s vision is to make AI and other related advances accessible to all, including illiterate populations, who are currently unable to benefit from the potential of artificial intelligence,” an Orange statement reads. “The initiative is a blueprint for how AI can be used to benefit those currently excluded.”
In addition to the open source project, Orange announced it had signed an agreement with OpenAI to provide access to its AI models in Europe.
Orange will be able to leverage OpenAI’s vast library of AI systems, including the reasoning system o1, with data processed and hosted in data centres in Europe.
Under the agreement, Orange will have access to OpenAI’s latest and most advanced AI models, enabling the operator to leverage applications like AI voice interactions with customers.
