We’re of Cook Islands, Niue, and American Samoa descent. Our initiative aimed to preserve the endangered Te Reo Māori Kūki' Āirani by creating a Duolingo-inspired prototype.

We hope to enhance this experience through recording and dataset creation for a digital language learning tool. Focused on the diaspora, comprising 90% of Cook Island people residing abroad, with only 9% fluent, our aim is to revive linguistic and cultural connections through language learning and collaboration with experts and the community.

We’ve been funded to create a prototype and are working with community leaders to build the first iteration of the app for Te reo Māōri Kūki Airani.

Looking ahead, our project aims to secure funding for the development and release of our app on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

We are also investigating the possibility of incorporating more of our Pacific endangered languages into the app. We plan to develop a large language model (LLM) based on the Kaitiakanga model by Te Hiku Media. This will enable us to create a speech-to-language AI model specifically for Kuki Airani reo.

Our commitment is to ensure the continued vitality of the Cook Islands language and other endangered languages in the pacific.