Tether: Funds Open-Source AI Models for 19 African Languages

Tether and QVAC are investing in AI inclusion for hundreds of millions across Africa by releasing TranslatePsy-AfriSLM, open-source translation models for 19 languages including Hausa, Yoruba, Swahili, Amharic and Zulu that run directly on existing phones. The move targets languages long sidelined in AI training data dominated by high-resource internet content. Paolo Ardoino highlighted the gap in open-source progress that left much of the continent outside the current wave of AI development.