Google, in collaboration with leading African institutions, has launched WAXAL, a comprehensive speech dataset designed to integrate over 100 million Africans into the AI-powered digital future.

• WAXAL provides 1,250 hours of transcribed natural speech and over 20 hours of studio recordings across 21 Sub-Saharan languages, including Swahili, Hausa, Yoruba, Luganda, and Acholi.
• Head of Google Research Africa, Aisha Walcott-Bryantt, stated that WAXAL empowers students, researchers, and entrepreneurs to develop technology in their own languages.
• The project was developed over three years with guidance from Google and led by African institutions like Makerere University, the University of Ghana, and Digital Umuganda, which retain full ownership of the dataset.