Google says it has expanded language support for its Artificial Intelligence-powered search features to include Yorùbá and Hausa languages in Nigeria.
Communications and Public Affairs Manager, West Africa at Google, Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.
He said the update allows speakers of the two Nigerian languages to access AI-powered search experiences in their mother tongue for quick summaries and conversational exploration.
The manager noted that the expansion forms part of Google’s broader effort to make AI more inclusive across Africa.
He explained that the development brings the number of supported African languages in the company’s AI Search features to 13.
Kola-Ogunlade said the update would enable more Nigerians to interact with search in familiar languages while seeking information online.
He added that the development means a student in Kano can ask questions in Hausa, while a trader in Ibadan can seek advice in Yorùbá.
“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 have made huge strides in language understanding.
“This ensures 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,” he said.
Kola-Ogunlade added that the expansion would allow users to ask complex questions in their preferred language through text or voice while exploring the web more naturally.
NAN
