Future of technology must be multilingual, inclusive, and just

As artificial intelligence surges forward—rewiring industries, reshaping economies, and redrawing the boundaries of possibility—we must ask ourselves a question too often ignored: Whose voices are we building this future for?

- ANNA MAE YU LAMENTILLO

So far, the answer has been painfully narrow. Despite lofty talk of global inclusion, the foundations of modern technology—especially AI—have been laid primarily in a handful of dominant languages, by a small cluster of companies and countries. The result is a digital ecosystem that may be vast, but remains linguistically and culturally shallow.

This isn’t just a technical oversight. It’s a structural injustice. Language is not a luxury. It is the gateway to knowledge, opportunity, civic participation, and cultural identity. And when technology does not understand or support your language, it does not truly include you.

At present, there are over 7,000 living languages in the world. Yet fewer than 100 of them are supported in any meaningful way by mainstream AI systems. The vast majority of people—especially those who speak Indigenous, minority, or non-standardized languages—live on the margins of the digital world, unable to communicate with the tools shaping the 21st century.