“The presence of Tatar on the Internet is almost zero” — RealnoeVremya.com

“All my life I have raised cows, picked potatoes, and enjoyed the pleasures of village life.”

It all started with a webinar in Tatar on the topic of artificial intelligence and its applications. This webinar was held in the summer of 2023 within the framework of Achyk University. Approximately 60 people attended.

“I didn’t expect it to cause such an uproar. To be honest, Rainur and I did a webinar for fun. Then I talked about AI a lot. After that, I… came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a special course,” said Saidash Miftakhov.

A native of the village of Urazai in the Kukumol district, he won the Olympic Games in the 11th grade and entered the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. He became interested in the IT field while in school. During his third year at the university, he went on an exchange trip to the Netherlands and immersed himself in the topic of artificial intelligence. Already in his fourth year, he was already working in his Severstal of automated production using AI. After that, he received his master’s degree in Skolkovo. At the same time, he continued to work in various companies and promote startups. But then he returned to Kazan and joined Yandex last year.

“Currently, the process of simplification of the Tatar language is underway.”

About 300 people of all ages working in different fields have enrolled in the free course on artificial intelligence in Tatar.

“The course participants are very diverse and include a large number of teachers, journalists, IT specialists, primary school students, etc. One of our most active participants is the famous journalist and public figure Rimzir Valiev . He is always very interested and asks the right questions, thereby enriching our courses. I tell the audience how we can use AI in our daily lives ” says Miftakhov.

This course is taught entirely in Tatar, including terms that are difficult to translate. According to the project’s creators, the main goal is to enrich Tatar content on the Internet.

“I think now the challenge in developing our language is to simplify it. We cannot move far away from the Sabantui, Chakchak and Ehopomak languages. All modern technology is connecting English and It will be presented in Russian. We hope that our project will begin to correct the current situation in some small way, ”said Miftakhov.

According to experts, the presence of the Tatar language in the field of artificial intelligence is very limited, but its beginnings have already begun.

“The main research in this direction is carried out by the Institute of Applied Semiotics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan. For example, what is famous for online translation is AI. Without knowing that this is artificial intelligence, we We have been using this service for many years. The Institute of Semiotics will soon launch the ability to translate audio recordings into text.”

To create AI, Miftakhov says, you first need a large amount of information, enough to cover the entire internet. Currently, the largest database is located at the Institute of Applied Semiotics.

“In general, the creation of AI is a very complex and expensive process. The more resources and money you put into it, the better the result will be,” the young man believes.

“We are not connected to the internet”

Saidash Miftakhov believes that the presence of Tatar on the Internet is currently almost zero.

“We don’t have the resources to be viewed by millions of people. For example, we don’t have bloggers talking about narrowly focused topics related to science. We don’t have the resources to talk about narrowly focused topics related to science. , more and more people show only how they dress and communicate. Of course, we also need such bloggers, but they cannot be limited to this, ”confirms the AI ​​expert. doing.

According to Miftakhov, the Tatar Wikipedia has made a huge contribution, thanks to which artificial intelligences around the world have at least some knowledge of the Tatar language. For example, open a GPT chat. Although it is not yet known how to compose the entire text, some words in Tatar can already be mastered.

“But, of course, this is not enough. There is a lack of information in Tatar. For example, if you want to find information about physics, you still have to switch to content in Russian. This is because the Tatar language on this topic Because there is no content to speak Tatar. If things continue as they are, Tatar will become only the language of our grandparents and pop music. It is not a language of knowledge, new technologies, or opportunities. Moreover, if we apply Tatar in that way, , there is also another danger of running out of vocabulary itself. Even now, very few people speak Tatar, a complex, high-quality and truly beautiful language. Globally, we have no presence on the Internet . This situation needs to be fixed. It takes quality bloggers and quality content, ”Saidash believes.

“Let’s ask ourselves this question: Is there any popular and at the same time high-quality media for young people in Tatar? I can only think of youth magazines, that’s it. This is often the case, but I would like to disagree with this. I think we should start by creating such media. Otherwise, the demand for the Tatar language itself may disappear.

It all depends on us, the young man sums it up: Now there are many young people who are passionate about this and want to create new projects. But for now, we are all acting locally and separately. We need to act together or separately, but with an understanding of our main task: to take the Tatar language to a new level. I feel like our society is waking up. New projects will appear, including on the Internet, so that the Tatar language can become independent in the digital space. ”

Miryausha Kashaftdinova

Sports Tatarstan