Google Rolls Out Yoruba and Hausa Support for AI Search in Nigeria

Google has introduced Yorùbá and Hausa language support for its AI-powered Search features, AI Overviews and AI Mode, enabling millions of Nigerians to interact with the platform in their native languages.

The update allows users to receive AI-generated summaries and conduct conversational searches in Yorùbá and Hausa. Google said the rollout forms part of a broader expansion across Africa that brings the total number of supported African languages to 13.

With the new capability, users can ask complex questions and obtain AI-driven answers using either voice commands or typed queries within Google Search.

According to Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communications and Public Affairs Manager for West Africa at Google, the development focuses on making Search more locally relevant.

He said:
“Building a truly global Search goes far beyond translation. It requires a nuanced understanding of local information. With the advanced multimodal and reasoning capabilities of our custom version of Gemini in Search, we’ve made huge strides in language understanding, so our most advanced AI search capabilities are locally relevant and useful in each new language we support. This is about ensuring Nigerians can converse with Search in their mother tongues, making information more helpful for everyone.”

The technology behind the update is a custom version of Google’s Gemini AI model, embedded within Search to enhance reasoning capabilities and improve interactions with information across voice and text.

The African languages currently supported by the feature include Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Afaan Oromoo, Somali, Sesotho, Kiswahili, Setswana, Wolof, Yorùbá, and isiZulu.

To access the feature, users can launch the Google app on Android or iOS or visit the web version of Search, activate AI Mode, and submit queries in their preferred language.

Google said the initiative aims to make advanced AI technology more accessible and culturally relevant to diverse communities across the African continent.

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