Working towards an inclusive AI: novel spell checker for Tamil language
Guest blog from Yazhmozhi V M Vasuki Murugesan, University of Dundee
Background
Hi everyone, I am Yazh, a second year PhD student in Computing at the University of Dundee working under the supervision of Professor Annalu Waller and Dr. Jacky Visser.
I completed my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering at Anna University, India. With a strong passion for research, I started my career as a “Scientist/Engineer SC” at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), one of the prestigious R&D organizations in India. Although working at the ISRO on different PSLV and GSLV missions enhanced my knowledge of the working of real time systems, I started developing an affinity towards data science. I cracked the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) at the national level which gave me an offer to study a post graduate degree in Data Analytics at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli.
Augmentative and Alternaitve Communicaitons
Currently, I work in the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) lab at the University of Dundee. My research aims at the development of a novel spell checker for Tamil, an official language in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. This will provide a unique resource for more than 69 million Tamil speakers in India.
The spell checker will also aim to support Tamil writers who have dyslexia. I began my research by conducting a systematic literature review of spell checkers for the major written Dravidian languages – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. A structured search found 56 papers which I then read in more detail, ending up with 44 relevant studies. The literature review revealed the research gaps and challenges that informed my research going forward. This research will also contribute two Tamil language resources – a balanced Tamil written text corpus and a Tamil spelling error corpus to underpin the spell checker.
Genres of Text
I have, to date, identified nineteen genres of text newspapers, letters, review articles, government reports, novels, short stories, other books, essays, Social Science, Science, Engineering, Finance, Religion, Law, Medicine, Mathematics, Arts, Research journals, and proverbs which I am using to construct the balanced written text corpus in Tamil. “The Global Report on Assistive Technology (GReAT)” published by the WHO and UNICEF describes the intensity of the problems associated with the usage of assistive technology in India. In Tamil Nadu also, despite the support for special assistive devices provided by the ‘Department for the welfare of differently abled persons’, the usage of assistive technology is a far cry from developed countries. There are many persons with disabilities without access to assistive technology. I have witnessed some of them and heard many bitter, heart-breaking experiences from my friends working with differently abled children.
However, there are few organizations that work for people with special educational needs and disabilities in my home country. One such organization is ‘Madras Dyslexia Association’, a non-profit service organization that helps students with dyslexia. I collected some inputs on the types of spelling errors made by dyslexic students from them. We hope that this research work might be an eye-opener for AI researchers in India, that even a small component of inclusion will create a huge difference in peoples’ lives.
Empower and Enable
Not only in India, Artificial Intelligence researchers around the world also use advanced deep learning and machine learning techniques in almost all fields to solve many complicated tasks. We are all aware of a plethora of AI breakthroughs in navigation, robotics, healthcare, agriculture, gaming, marketing, data security, finance and even astronomy. Having said that, “Is AI inclusive?” We hope that Artificial Intelligence will be inclusive enough to empower and enable fellow human beings with complex communication needs and other disabilities, making the world a more inclusive and accessible place to live in!
