What is the name of your organization?
SIL Global
What is the name of your solution?
AlphaBloom
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Books for every child in every language through AI-powered translation and community-led book creation.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Dallas, TX, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
USA
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Learning poverty is a global crisis, preventing millions of children from developing basic literacy skills and limiting their future opportunities. The World Bank estimates that 37% of children in low- and middle-income countries are not taught in a language they understand. Without early reading materials in their language, over 350 million children struggle to learn basic skills and build fluency, leading to high dropout rates and limited opportunities in education and the workforce.
Globally, over 7,000 languages are spoken, yet less than 5% are used in formal education, leaving millions of children without foundational reading materials. To help children gain reading fluency and develop a love for reading, at least 200 leveled reading materials are needed. Traditional publishers overlook smaller languages because they are not commercially viable.
Governments and NGOs spend millions on literacy programs but lack an efficient way to scale book production in marginalized languages. SIL Global solves this by equipping communities with Bloom, an easy-to-use book creation platform coupled with Alpha2, an AI-powered translation tool. This combination enables faster, cost-effective production of books, ensuring that children can access reading materials in their own language for the first time.
What is your solution?
SIL Global is developing AI-driven solutions to close the literacy gap in low-resource languages that have little to no written materials, digital content, or institutional support. Often spoken by smaller communities, these languages are rarely used in education, publishing, or technology, making it difficult for speakers to access books and learning materials in their own language.
While machine translation for high-resource languages has rapidly advanced, low-resource languages remain underserved due to limited data and economic barriers. Alpha2 changes this by training AI models using SIL’s extensive multilingual data to improve translation accuracy. This enables high-quality machine translation in approximately 25% of the world’s languages.
In order to support reading fluency, we will combine Alpha2’s capabilities with Bloom, an open-source book creation and distribution platform to reduce the time required to produce 200 books in any of Alpha2’s 1,400 languages.
Communities use Bloom to adapt, refine, and publish books, while local experts review AI-generated drafts for accuracy and cultural relevance. This approach empowers communities to create and share books efficiently, ensuring that children can access reading materials in their own language - perhaps for the first time!
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
More than 1.25 billion people speak languages that are vigorously used but are not supported by education systems, forcing children to learn in a language they don’t understand. This makes it harder to learn, stay in school, and access future opportunities. Without early literacy, these communities face higher dropout rates and fewer economic opportunities. Traditional publishing ignores these languages due to low market demand, leaving entire communities without the essential reading materials needed to thrive.
Our solution removes barriers to book creation and provides a cost-effective, scalable solution by combining Bloom’s community-driven and inclusive publishing tools with Alpha2’s AI-powered translation, enabling faster, more efficient production of books in local languages. Books will be distributed in print, digitally through apps, and online via the Bloom Library, ensuring widespread access, even in remote areas.
In our expanded pilot, SIL is collaborating with a language community in South Asia, five languages in Tanzania, and four in Nigeria, potentially reaching millions. By empowering communities to create and share their own books, community members become fluent readers, giving them access to information in any domain, independent learning and confidence. Strengthened literacy skills lead to critical thinking, increased school retention rates, and long-term success.