AUT helps Microsoft with te reo Māori
Te reo Māori is now available on Microsoft Translator, thanks in part to Te Ara Poutama, the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development, staff and students at the Auckland University of Technology.
The technology means that text from more than 60 languages can be instantly converted into te reo for free, and vise versa.
AUT Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori Pare Keiha says staff and students at the university have been helping train the software by providing thousands of translations.
“This app will help revitalise te reo, and as such will be useful to all New Zealanders and people around the world,” he says.
“This technology will help give our culture and tamariki a place in the 21st Century.”
Microsoft New Zealand Education Lead Anne Taylor says including te reo in Microsoft Translator will help make the language accessible to as many people as possible.
“We want to provide better access to Māori language and culture via the technology Kiwis use every day,” she says.
The technology will now be continually updated and refining by Microsoft’s artificial intelligence technology.
AUT joined with experts from around the country to work on the project.