Freshman Aidan Whitedeer plans to utilize what he learns from his AI degree at Penn to preserve the Otoe-Missouria Tribe’s language and cultural traditions through the Dreamstarter project grant.
To accomplish the above, Whitedeer has devised two initial phases for his plan.
For the language component, Whitedeer will “scrape what is in the Otoe language dictionary and teach the LLM that.”
Whitedeer is a member of the Otoe-Missouria tribe, located in Red Rock, Oklahoma. Raised in both Oklahoma and Colorado, Whitedeer spent his summers with his grandmother and other ancestors.To start the cultural component, Whitedeer plans to visit Red Rock, consulting with tribal elders, on best practices in the late spring. This will follow Whitedeer’s attendance at the Dreamstarter Academy training in April.
Preserving the language and culture of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe remains paramount.
“I grew up learning how the decisions I make will impact others for generations to come,” Whitedeer said, referring to his future children, grandchildren, and beyond. This served as the impetus for Whitedeer’s inspiration. That and the fact that so much of the Otoe-Missouria Tribes’ language and cultural traditions has been lost over time.
The Dreamstarter grant applies to the Otoe-Missouria Tribe. However, Whitedeer also has roots with the Kickapoo Tribe, located in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas. Whitedeer’s cultural heritage with the Kickapoo Tribe also influenced his decision to apply to the Dreamstarter Grant. Though this did not fully come together until Whitedeer enrolled in Penn’s AI BSE.
Members of the Kickapoo Tribe code switch between English and Kickapoo constantly. “I’ve seen this my entire life. But it wasn’t until I came to Penn and enrolled in the ESE 2000, that I saw this is exactly something you could teach an LLM ,” Whitedeer said in relation to the Artificial Intelligence Lab: Data Systems, and Decisions course and its connection to natural language processing.
Whitedeer’s work corresponds to the Dreamstarter Jiwere Elder Intelligence AI tool. Throughout the project’s implementation, Whitedeer will utilize Jiwere Language resources and integrate recording technology to develop and train AI. This will allow it to capture dialect, slang, and speech, providing context for tribal stories. When complete, the work can be accessed by a user-friendly app–individually or in classroom settings.
As for Whitedeer’s future plans? He dreams of someday immersing himself fully in the tribal culture. Beyond that, he potentially sees himself in a doctoral program, and as a professor, teaching others about the intersection of AI and linguistics for generations to come.