AI partnership revives Te Reo Māori in New Zealand media

Microsoft and Straker have launched an advanced translation tool to help preserve the vibrancy and cultural significance of Te Reo Māori.

"When a community loses a language, it loses its connection to the past and part of its present. It loses a piece of its identity," says Microsoft President Brad Smith.

Te Reo Māori is an intrinsic part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s identity. When Kiwis travel, most communicate in English—the international language of business. Yet, when expressing what makes New Zealand unique, many aspects such as the renowned haka performed by the All Blacks, famous personalities like Taika Waititi, and iconic locations including Rotorua and Waiheke are tied to Māori culture and language.

The founder of a translation technology company reflected on the personal significance of the Māori language, stating, "Growing up, I wasn’t able to express myself in the language of my people, which has greatly influenced my career path." They emphasised the need for both openness to using Te Reo Māori and the smart use of technology to ensure its accessibility for more New Zealanders in their daily lives.

According to the World Economic Forum, around 1,500 languages are predicted to disappear within the next century. Research indicates that dominant regional languages taught in schools often overshadow indigenous tongues. Unless these native languages are used habitually and integrated into daily life, they risk extinction. Losing a language means losing more than just words; it involves losing a unique cultural identity.

Aotearoa's news organisations are evidently aware of the importance of language preservation. Significant progress has been noted over the past two decades, such as the establishment of Whakaata Māori (formerly Māori Television) 20 years ago. The use of Te Reo Māori in mainstream television news and a greater focus on Māori content by major outlets like Stuff demonstrate this evolving awareness.

However, mainstream media faces challenges in incorporating more Te Reo Māori content. A significant issue is the insufficient number of fluent Māori speakers within news organisations to produce or translate content swiftly and at scale. Māori and other Pacific languages are among the most expensive to translate due to a scarcity of translators, affecting their usage and vibrancy.

Two years ago, during a visit to Microsoft headquarters in the United States, the founder of the translation technology company presented this challenge to Brad Smith. That conversation has since borne fruit with the launch of Stuff's new Te Reo Māori translation tool. Microsoft supported the development of an automated translation platform by the founder’s company, Straker. This platform merges Straker's existing translation tools with the Microsoft Translator platform and AI technology, enabling Stuff to translate entire news articles and other content into Te Reo Māori at scale.

This collaboration aims to significantly enhance the inclusion of Te Reo Māori speakers and promote the language as a living, vibrant entity that people can use daily. The partnership serves as an inspiration for other organisations to employ generative AI tools to advance equality, diversity, and inclusion, thereby preserving cultural heritage.

The model developed by Straker and Microsoft ensures that humans remain central to translations. Given Te Reo Māori's rich nuance, where one term can convey multiple meanings, context is crucial. Stuff has created new roles, appointing a kaiwhakamāori (translator) to manage bilingual content and review translations before publication. Collaborating with the AI platform and Straker’s experts, the speed and quality of translations are expected to improve, allowing more content to be translated.

This partnership underscores how technology can be a potent enabler for Aotearoa's society and culture, provided there is a human element at the core. Beyond language preservation, exploring and collaborating on such solutions can help tackle broader societal challenges, such as climate change and the loss of native species. By doing so, New Zealand not only reinforces its cultural foundations but also builds a stronger future.