The first African voice assistant

The first African voice assistant

Author: BBC World Service May 25, 2021 Duration: 38:43

Speech smart assistants currently do not support any African language, but now Mozilla’s Common Voice project is building a dataset for Kiswahili which is spoken by more than a 100 million people in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan. They have just been awarded almost $5m for the project. Remy the community lead at Common Voice Kinyarwanda and Chenai chair special adviser for Africa Innovation at the Mozilla Foundation tells us more about the work.

Federated Learning As more of our data is processed through machine learning systems, Dr Nic Lane, of the Cambridge Computer Laboratory, explains a new way of processing and using our data without the need to send it through data centres. One solution to reduce the impact is federated learning – where data is processed on the edge, on your device, rather than being centralised. Not only does this reduce the environmental impact of computing, but it also has benefits for privacy and opens up opportunities for data sharing between companies.

Electronic VR socks Reporter Claire Jordan has been investigating a novel approach to “walking” in a virtual reality. Existing ways are expensive and need considerable space to function, as well as having a less than satisfactory user experience. A new technology being developed by Professor Yusuke Matsuda of Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan could expand the reach of immersive VR movement to a much wider audience and deliver a better user experience than current solutions. The user wears electronic socks that create the feeling of walking in VR even though the user is sitting down. This could allow users to spend much longer in VR and also allow people with mobility issues to move around more freely, and possibly feel as though they are moving, in VR.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson. Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

(Image: Mozilla’s Common Voice project. Credit: Mozilla) (Image: Mozilla’s Common Voice project. Credit: Mozilla)


Every week, the team at Digital Planet from the BBC World Service takes you beyond the headlines to explore how technology is reshaping lives, cultures, and economies across the globe. This isn't just a rundown of gadget releases or corporate earnings; it's a grounded conversation about the real-world impact of our digital choices. You'll hear from engineers in Nairobi, policymakers in Brussels, and coders in São Paulo, offering a genuinely international perspective that challenges the usual Silicon Valley narrative. Each episode digs into the human stories behind the innovations, examining both the promise and the peril of our connected age. We tackle questions about ethics, accessibility, and the unintended consequences of progress, making sense of complex issues with clear, thoughtful reporting. Tune in for a nuanced and curious exploration of our technological moment, where the focus is always on the people designing, using, and living with these tools every day. This podcast provides the context you need to understand not just what's new, but what it actually means.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Digital Planet
Podcast Episodes
Fighting for the right to repair [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:26
US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order asking the Federal Trade Commission to “limit powerful equipment manufacturers from restricting people’s ability to use independent repair shops or do DIY repairs”. Th…
Big tech platforms to protect women online [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:46
Four of the world’s biggest tech platforms are adopting a new set of commitments to tackle online abuse and improve women’s safety online. This is the first time there has been cross-industry collaboration on ways compan…
YouTube’s rules silencing human rights activists [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:33
Why did YouTube take down video testimonies from family members of people imprisoned in China’s internment camps? To ensure the credibility of these videos, people show proof of identity. Now, YouTube says it has concern…
Bias in AI – what next? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:03
Our own bias is becoming engrained in computer code. There is a huge amount of evidence showing that human bias and ignorance is encoded into our digitally driven world. The impact of this is unsurprisingly impacting the…
Bitcoin’s environmental cost [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:54
El Salvador has voted to recognise bitcoin as legal tender, and there is a great deal of interest globally in digital currencies that provide an alternative to cash. However mining bitcoin, the intensive computation need…
NFT? That’ll do nicely [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:46
‘Non-fungible tokens’ are a kind of digital asset that can be bought and sold. They have captured the imagination of many artists. Art pieces can be given a digital identity as an NFT. However, they have also been used t…
WhatsApp v Indian government [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:01
India has brought in stringent new laws that WhatsApp says will force it to break its end-to-end encryption. In a social media chat that’s been forwarded by multiple users, the new rules require the person who originated…
WhatsAppening with pandemic misinformation? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:47
More than 100 million people worldwide have interacted with Covid-19 misinformation since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a new study in PLOS One. We speak to Professor David Nemer, from the University of Vir…
Urgent calls for mandatory recycling of e-waste [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:11
Pascal Leroy, Director General of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Forum joins us live to discuss their report on a proposed recycling framework for critical raw materials – CEWASTE – and why recycling criti…

«1...678910