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NU scientists launch Automated Kazakh Speech Recognition project

24.09.2020

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The Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence at Nazarbayev University (ISSAI) is launching a project on automated recognition of Kazakh speech – the Kazakh Speech Corpus (KSC). Developers expect that this project will help introduce Kazakh language into the global digital world.

The KSC contains more than 300 hours of transcribed audio comprising over 154,000 utterances recorded by two thousand participants.

The project presents several great opportunities for Kazakh speakers – the feature can be used in virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa or in ‘smart home’ technology, as well as in software that support voice recognition.

Also, the new technology can be applied to voice and text software that are widely used by people with special needs. Developers are hopeful that the KSC will be able to further boost the development of inclusive society in Kazakhstan.

“Previously, there was not a large database, which was a significant obstacle to the use of the Kazakh language in the digital world. This is the reason we initiated the project in the first place. We are now ready to share the collected Kazakh speech database with all researchers and digital entrepreneurs in order to maximize its positive impact on the country’s economy and society, ” said Professor Atakan Varol, Director of ISSAI NU.

The project’s launch was timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the establishment of the Institute of Smart Systems and Artificial Intelligence at Nazarbayev University – on September 14, ISSAI celebrated its first birthday.

To access the database and test the Kazakh speech recognition technology, follow the link: https://issai.nu.edu.kz/kz-speech-corpus/.

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