What is the name of your organization?
Nebraska Minority Resource Center
What is the name of your solution?
Building an AI Language Model
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
AI Language Model for Lakota Sioux Language Preservation
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Gordon, NE 69343, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
USA
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
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What specific problem are you solving?
The Lakota language faces imminent loss without innovative intervention. Traditional methods alone cannot keep pace with the decline in fluent speakers. An AI language model offers a scalable, modern approach, aligning with the National Endowment for the Humanities’ mission to preserve cultural heritage and the United Nations’ Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) goals. This project will not only preserve Lakota but also empower the community to reclaim its linguistic identity.
What is your solution?
Our project will have four major goals. These goals will be designed to provide open accessibility, for the Lakota youth and anyone interested, and to preserve, educate and invite community engagement.
1. Preservation: Digitize and archive at least 500 hours of Lakota oral histories, songs, and texts within the first 18 months.
2. Education: Develop an AI-generated suite of learning materials, including a digital dictionary, grammar modules, and 50 interactive lessons, by Year 2.
3. Accessibility: Launch a free, user-friendly mobile app and web platform for Lakota language practice by Year 3, targeting 5,000 active users.
4. Community Engagement: Train 20 Lakota community members in AI tool usage and language documentation by project end.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
The benefits extend beyond preservation. A Lakota AI model would empower tribal communities by fostering cultural pride, supporting education in schools on reservations (Primarily the , Pine Ridge, Rosebud Reservations as well as the Winnebago, Ponca and Omaha Tribes of Eastern Nebraska), and creating economic opportunities through language-related jobs. It could also integrate with existing revitalization efforts, such as immersion programs and apps like Lakota Language Consortium tools, amplifying their impact. By leveraging natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning, this project aligns with broader goals of linguistic diversity and Indigenous sovereignty, ensuring that Lakota remains a living language rather than a historical artifact. We will preserve our history and language for future generations of our youth!