RobotsMali Language Policy
RobotsMali AI4D Lab is proud to announce that English and Mali’s national languages are now our primary working languages. French will be progressively phased out, though it will remain a “language of last resort” during the transition period as our staff and the broader Malian public shift toward greater use of English and our national languages.
French has long ceased to be a global language of science and business. Even in France, English has taken its place in international and technology companies. Unfortunately, Mali has not yet made this transition, and the consequences for our national development are grave. As an AI lab, we feel these limitations acutely—the global AI community communicates almost exclusively in English. This leaves French-speaking Malian students with limited access to international study opportunities and isolates our French-speaking researchers from vital collaborations across Africa and beyond.
At the same time, by enforcing education in a language that is increasingly irrelevant on the global stage—French—we continue to deprive our youth of meaningful learning experiences from the very start of their education. We miss the chance to provide a strong knowledge foundation using the languages they already speak: our national languages.
RobotsMali AI4D Lab has worked hard to change that. We use AI to create educational materials and learning tools in our national languages, helping children learn to read and write in the language of their home. We’re also building curricula to teach modern technologies, computer science, and AI in these same languages. Now it’s time to extend this transformation beyond schools—into the workplace. Our national languages must become used not just for daily communication, but for scientific and technical progress.
We recognize that this shift will bring challenges. But the future of our country depends on our willingness to face them now. French will remain in use at the Lab for some time, for those still gaining fluency in English or our national languages. But we believe that this transition will be faster and smoother than expected.
At RobotsMali AI4D Lab, we’ve decided to break definitively with the past. The sooner we move forward, the sooner a brighter, more dynamic future becomes our reality.
RobotsMali AI4D Lab – Mali’s international AI lab, working in English and our national languages.
