Artificial intelligence continues to unlock new possibilities for human-machine communication. In South Africa, a 21-year-old inventor has developed Fuze, a humanoid robot designed to understand and communicate in all 11 of the country's official languages, aiming to break down the linguistic barriers that limit parts of the population from accessing new technologies.
Mzwandile Zulu, a native of the Eastern Cape province, is the founder of Creative Minds Technologies AI and led the development of the project, which seeks to make artificial intelligence more accessible to communities that do not use English as their first language.
Fuze is designed to automatically identify the language used by the person it is speaking with and respond in the same language, without requiring any manual configuration. The languages covered include isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sepedi, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, Setswana, siSwati, Sesotho, isiNdebele, and Tshivenda.
According to Zulu, the idea emerged from the difficulties he encountered in finding sufficient data in his mother tongue to develop AI solutions tailored to the South African reality. Observing that most available technological tools are built around English, he identified an opportunity to create a system capable of reducing that linguistic dependence.
Speaking to News24, Zulu explained that his goal is to develop technology that would allow children, for example, to ask questions and learn without needing to master English to interact with intelligent systems.
The creation of Fuze took approximately three months. The process involved data collection, the use of voice recordings to capture different South African accents, and the programming of the system — combining code developed by his team with existing tools.
Learning Outside the Classroom
Zulu's journey is also notable for the unconventional way in which he acquired the knowledge needed to build the project. After completing secondary school in 2023, he chose not to enrol in a higher education institution, instead seeking training through digital platforms and obtaining computing and computer science certifications made available by Google for Developers.
His interest in technology intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic, when his family was facing financial difficulties. While searching for business opportunities, Zulu began studying the careers of successful entrepreneurs and identified the technology sector as an area with the potential to generate income and create new professional opportunities.
In 2024, he founded Creative Minds Technologies AI, a company dedicated to teaching programming and developing technology skills.
The creation of Fuze took approximately three months. The process involved data collection, the use of voice recordings to capture different South African accents, and the programming of the system — combining code developed by his team with existing tools.
Creative Minds Technologies AI, founded by Mzwandile Zulu, is a company focused on teaching programming and developing technology competencies.
A Project Still in Development
Although Fuze already demonstrates multilingual communication capabilities, the robot remains under development. To improve the system's performance, Zulu has called on South Africans to contribute voice recordings in their respective mother tongues through a dedicated data-collection platform.
The initiative aims to broaden the linguistic diversity of the data used in the technology's development, strengthening the robot's ability to recognise different accents and forms of expression.
Among the future objectives is the integration of South African Sign Language, recognised as the country's 12th official language. Zulu intends to develop functionalities that would allow the robot to interpret gestures and respond through text displayed on a screen, with the possibility of communicating through gestures also planned for a later stage.
For the young inventor, Fuze represents an opportunity to demonstrate that African languages can occupy a central place in the development of artificial intelligence, helping to make these technologies more accessible and better adapted to the continent's linguistic diversity.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=558430
