Princeton High School students are tapping into AI to preserve a language at the brink of extinction.
First reported by CNN, a group of students was able to build Che'w, a stuffed animal capable of speaking the Mayan language Mam.
Mam is an offshoot of the Mayan language indigenous in a small community in Guatemala and Mexico. According to the UNESCO records, the language is classified as vulnerable or near extinction.
To help protect the language from being forgotten, the Princeton students are utilizing OpenAI's ChatGPT as a "novel approach" to "bridge linguistic gaps and empower Indigenous communities."
The little robot is powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT, allowing the stuffed toy to converse and produce whole sentences using Mam.
Due to the potential benefits of the students' invention, the project was even chosen as part of the 10 national finalists in Samsung's "Solve for Tomorrow" initiative.
The three winners of the competition are expected to receive a $100 price package to fund future research efforts, while the seven others will be granted $50,000 in Samsung technology and classroom supplies.
More Schools Explore Potentials of AI Amid Academic Pushbacks
Princeton High School is not the only academic institution that has started leaning more into AI amid hesitance on the technology's application in schools and universities.
Dr. Joy Barnes-Johnson, the science administrator for PHS, told CNN that introducing AI to STEM students is part of the school's steps "to prepare kids for the world they will inherit."
The same sentiment can be seen in a rising number of graduate schools in the US, including several notable business schools and entrepreneurship programs per The Wall Street Journal.
It is worth noting that the schools' adaptation towards AI is focused on using the technology as a tool similar to its machine learning predecessors.
The introduction of generative AI to automate schoolwork remains a taboo in academic spaces with some schools already taking precautions by entirely prohibiting its use.
AI Firms Introducing AI Technology on School Settings
For now, AI firms are slowly introducing the technology to learners by incorporating AI into their academic products.
Google recently did the same thing with the release of its newest academic suite, all powered by Gemini AI, via Google Workspace.
This is in addition to the AI-generated quizzes the tech giant will introduce to academic and educational YouTube videos to help classrooms integrate social platforms into their lessons.
