Every year, more essential services move onto digital and AI-powered platforms.
Medical attention, emergency aid, weather alerts and refugee assistance can all be exponentially more effective with the help of technology. But right now, AI isn’t on track to build a better world. It’s built in just a handful of languages, and with very little input from language communities. For the roughly 4 billion people who speak low-resource languages, the shift hasn’t meant progress. Instead, it’s leaving them further behind, excluded from the conversation about how this technology develops in the first place.
When a language is included, power shifts with it
At CLEAR Global, we believe people should be able to get information and be heard, whatever language they speak. For the billions whose languages remain largely invisible to today’s technology development, that means missing on vital opportunities to save lives. We strive to change this by:
- Working directly with communities to understand what they need from AI and language technology, instead of assuming it for them.
- Making sure people are heard and understood in an emergency. That they can understand directions to safety and receive critical care without language barriers.
- Creating language data and technology, with a particular focus on voice to allow access to everyone, especially people who can’t read or write.
- Mapping who speaks what, and where, so that the next tool is built in the right languages for the community it serves.
An urgent need
AI is moving fast and it’s going unchecked. There’s little thought about the languages it’s built to serve, or how the needs of marginalized communities shape its functionality.
Humanitarian budgets are shrinking right as AI investment is booming, and the two trends are combining to push marginalized communities further to the sidelines.
The translation industry itself is being reshaped by AI, and navigating this shift requires betting on human judgement for the contexts that matter most: high stakes, cultural nuance, and the chance to save people’s lives in an emergency. This is the intersection at which CLEAR Global works. We need the resources to keep meeting this moment before it passes by.
This campaign runs through December 31st, 2026. Every gift between now and then helps set the direction for what gets built next year, and for whom.
What your gift means
Every donation is tax-deductible in the US, and goes directly toward work already underway with communities and local linguists.
€25
creates an audio file with health guidance in a low-resource language, ensuring that life-saving information reaches an entire community, even those who can’t read or write.
€100
translates 1000 words of disaster-readiness plans before the storm hits, giving a community the knowledge they need to protect themselves.
€500
enables a language justice activist to speak to global power holders to ensure the right to be understood is written into international humanitarian policy.
Your impact
4 billion people speak marginalized languages and are often left out of critical information and services.
In climate disasters, conflict zones, and health emergencies, language barriers can cost lives.
Ethical, human centered AI can bridge these gaps and deliver life saving information where it is needed most.
Human centered linguistic skills are essential to building responsible AI and ensuring that marginalized voices are heard, understood, and protected. With your support, this work can reach the communities that need it most.
If you’d like to expand your support, please get in touch to explore sponsorship options.
Donate to CLEAR Global today (EUR).
Your support is essential. Help create communications solutions that work for everybody, whatever language they speak.