🎉 How a CUSTECH Staff Member Built AI Models That Understand and Speak Ebira and Igala
Meet Alex Raji—a proud son of Ebira land, dedicated staff member of the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, and founder of ARC ROBOTICS, a pioneering research group focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations in Africa.
In a groundbreaking achievement, Alex and his team have successfully developed AI models that can understand, process, and respond in both Ebira and Igala—two of Kogi State’s major indigenous languages. This remarkable innovation represents a major leap toward building Africa-centric AI solutions that reflect the continent’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity.
While most AI tools today are built around global languages like English and Mandarin, Alex Raji’s work is pushing boundaries—bringing local dialects into the AI conversation and ensuring that African voices are not left behind in the AI revolution.
Watch How the AI Models work
According to Alex, this project is not just about language. It’s about inclusion, education, and empowerment. “We are building tools that speak the language of our people,” he says. “If we wait for others to build this for us, we may wait forever. So, we’re building our own models—by us, for us.”
Through ARC ROBOTICS, Alex has integrated advanced open-source technologies like OpenAI’s Whisper, Meta’s LLaMA, and custom speech synthesis tools to power a two-way interactive robot that listens and speaks in native tongues. This innovation has the potential to transform education, public service, and community engagement across Nigeria and beyond.
Alex’s work is a shining example of the world-class innovation coming out of Nigerian institutions like CUSTECH, and a reminder that the future of AI must be built in our languages, with our stories, and by our own hands.
