Technology is learning to listen.
Phones can turn speech into text. Apps can generate captions automatically. AI tools can transcribe meetings, respond to voice commands, search spoken content and increasingly help people work without typing. But for Igbo speakers, many of those tools still do not work.
At the center of the problem is Automatic Speech Recognition, or ASR, the technology that allows computers to hear spoken language and turn it into information they can process. It powers captions, transcription, dictation, voice search and many of the voice features now being built into artificial intelligence.
For languages that are well supported, these tools are becoming ordinary. For Igbo, support is still inconsistent across many major digital products, despite the language being spoken by tens of millions of people. That makes this more than a technical gap.
Why It Matters
As more of daily life moves online, the ability to use technology by voice is becoming increasingly important.
A business owner can speak into a phone and generate text, captions, product information or customer responses. A creator can automatically caption a video. A musician can make lyrics and spoken content easier to search and discover. A user can dictate a message, search by voice or interact with an AI assistant.
When those tools work poorly in Igbo, users have fewer options. They may have to do the work manually, pay someone else to do it or simply switch to English.
For small businesses, that can mean more time and higher costs. For creators and artists, it can mean more manual work and content that is harder to caption, translate, search or discover. For ordinary users, it means that some of the newest digital tools are simply less useful when they speak Igbo.
As AI and voice technology become more common, that gap becomes harder to ignore.
The Consequences
The most immediate consequence is practical: people are pushed toward languages that technology understands better.
If voice typing, search, captions or AI work more reliably in English, users will naturally switch to English to get the job done. Over time, that creates a digital environment where using Igbo can mean accepting a worse experience.
There is also an economic consequence. Technology is increasingly helping people sell, market, communicate and work more efficiently. If Igbo speakers cannot fully use those tools in their own language, they risk getting less value from technologies that are becoming central to business and everyday life.
The issue also affects knowledge and culture. Igbo has a strong oral tradition. Stories, proverbs, songs, sermons, interviews and community histories contain knowledge that may never appear in written form. As more information becomes searchable and accessible through AI, the ability of technology to understand spoken Igbo will affect how much of that knowledge can be found, preserved and used in the future.
What TokataHQ Is Doing
TokataHQ was created around a simple idea: if millions of people speak Igbo, the technology they use should be able to understand them.
Its current work has three main parts.
First, TokataHQ researches and documents where Igbo is missing or not working well. The organization tests products and features, gathers user experiences, works with researchers and technologists, and develops technical and economic evidence around the problem.
Second, TokataHQ mobilizes the community through #PutIgboInTech. Igbo speakers, creators, researchers, technologists and supporters help identify gaps, share their experiences, participate in testing and show that there is real demand for better support.
Third, TokataHQ engages directly with technology companies. It brings documented gaps, user experiences, technical evidence and the business case to the companies building the products people use every day, and advocates for Igbo to be included and properly supported.
The goal is not simply to point out what is broken. It is to help move the technology forward.
The Larger Goal
For years, conversations about Igbo have often focused on preservation: teaching children the language, speaking it at home and making sure it survives. That remains important. But survival alone is no longer enough.
Igbo also has to work in the digital world.
If people are increasingly speaking to technology instead of typing, Igbo should work there. If artificial intelligence becomes part of business, education, healthcare and everyday communication, Igbo speakers should be able to use it fully.Technology is moving quickly. The question is whether Igbo moves with it.
That is the larger goal of #PutIgboInTech: to make sure Igbo is not simply preserved for the future, but fully usable in it.
About Sorochi Van Sickle, PhD
Sorochi Van Sickle, PhD, is the founder of TokataHQ, a nonprofit working to get Igbo properly supported across the digital products people use every day.
Her professional background spans healthcare investment, outcomes research and strategy. She holds a PhD from the University of Houston and a pharmacy degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Through TokataHQ, she brings together researchers, technologists, economists, creators and community advocates, and engages with technology companies to improve support for Igbo across digital products.
Website: www.tokatahq.org
Instagram: @tokataHQ
Facebook: TokataHQ
YouTube: @tokataHQ
TikTok: @tokataHQ
Email: Sorochi@tokatahq.org
Campaign: #PutIgboInTech
