IF20 and IAMC to spotlight AI translation for low-resource languages

G20 Interfaith Forum and the International Academy of Multicultural Cooperation will host a June 25 webinar on AI translation, with a focus on languages that lack digital resources. The event will bring together computational linguists and translators to discuss how AI can expand access while still missing nuance in many languages.

Why it matters: - AI translation can help speakers of low-resource languages access information, education and digital services that are often unavailable in their native languages. - The topic matters because more than 7,000 living languages exist, but only a small share has enough digital data to support AI translation tools. - The webinar aims to highlight both the promise of faster, broader translation and the limits of current systems in capturing nuance, tone and culturally embedded meaning.

What happened: - G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20) and the International Academy of Multicultural Cooperation (IAMC) announced an upcoming public webinar titled “AI and Translation.” - The webinar will take place Thursday, June 25, at 9 AM PST / 10 AM MST / 11 AM EST / 12 PM EST. - The event is the second webinar in the “AI and Faith” series. - IF20 and IAMC will host the discussion online. - Registration is available through the free webinar registration page.

The details: - The panel will include computational linguistic experts discussing their AI translation projects and answering questions from attendees. - Professor Stephen D. Richardson is working on low-resource languages in Africa to support communication and preserve tribal languages. - Richardson said current AI models can translate a few dozen widely spoken languages but do not support thousands of others. - Richardson said several hundred languages with more than a million speakers are not supported by today’s AI models. - Richardson said about half of the world’s languages are spoken only, without a standard written form. - The webinar speakers will include Marianna Richardson, Steve Richardson, Charles Cranney and Ammon Shurtz. - Marianna Richardson will serve as moderator and is the director of communications for G20 Interfaith Forum. - Marianna Richardson is writing the white paper on AI and Faith that will be distributed at the G20 Interfaith Forum on Oct. 15-17 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and presented to G20 Summit leaders before the December 2026 summit. - Steve Richardson is a Brigham Young University computer science professor and founder of the MATRIX Lab. - Steve Richardson has worked in machine translation and AI translation for more than five decades. - Charles Cranney is senior manager of digital media at BYU Brand & Creative. - Ammon Shurtz is a BYU computer science PhD student and lead research assistant at the MATRIX Lab. - Shurtz’s research focuses on AI translation and low-resource natural language processing, including work for language communities in Southeast Asia. - Shurtz has Cambodian ancestry and is fluent in Khmer. - The webinar will also address translation across written, spoken and signed languages as a way to reduce communication barriers. - More information is available on the G20 Interfaith Forum website.

Between the lines: - IF20 is using the webinar to frame AI as a tool for inclusion, not just a source of risk. - The emphasis on low-resource languages points to a broader gap in AI development, where major commercial systems often serve the most widely spoken languages first. - The event also ties translation work to faith, civic engagement and global policy, suggesting IF20 sees language access as part of international cooperation.

What's next: - The webinar will continue IF20 and IAMC’s “AI and Faith” series. - The white paper on AI and Faith will be circulated at the October forum in Salt Lake City and then shared with G20 leaders ahead of the December 2026 summit. - The discussion may help shape future work on translation tools for underserved language communities.