Generative AI: A boon or bane to the Tamil community

Tamil is one of the oldest classical languages in the world, with a rich history in literature, music, and the fine arts. Approximately 1.06% of the world's population speaks Tamil, with around 84.12 million being native speakers. There are many grassroots-level creators who are writers, poets, thought leaders, educators, and innovators contributing to the preservation and perpetuation of Tamil’s heritage and culture. The language is at risk of losing its roots due to technological advancement and English being the widely used mode of business communication across the globe. Adding to that fear is the introduction of generative AI (Gen AI), which is a fundamental paradigm shift from the traditional AI which is largely about organizing information created by humans for easy retrieval and ranking of relevant information and providing actionable insights and recommendations.Gen AI models are projected as a replacement for human creative capabilities owing to their ability to emulate skills that only humans may possess, and they affect the livelihood of the creators whose primary source of income is their creative content. Imagine if anyone could use Gen AI tools to generate plots or stories in the style of a famous author. Wouldn’t it affect the author’s only source of income? Linguists, who work as data annotators, may be affected if Gen AI is used as a replacement for human annotators. The irony is that the creators and the linguists are not even aware of their jobs being affected because of technology and have no clue that the data used in creating such Gen AI tools comes from them without compensating them for their work. Identifying ways to educate the creators and linguists to embrace technology to accentuate their creativity while compensating them fairly for the use of their content and to leverage Gen AI in their workflow is the need of the hour. There is no stopping Gen AI and making the community aware of its impact is essential. This can be achieved through the democratization of AI by building hyperlocal communities and educating them to use the technology for solving their own problems while addressing and mitigating the potential threats they pose through regulations. Gen AI can be used as a medium to build a knowledge base, leveraging the rich Tamil literature and creative story-telling tools to improve the workflow of the creators, which in turn helps the language co-exist with technology. A community's culture, values, and way of life are captured, communicated, preserved, and passed on via its literature, music, and various fine arts, including visual media. Gen AI’s impact on these aspects will have profound significance for how a community and its citizens evolve. This poster discusses some strategies that can be implemented to counter the negative impacts on the Tamil community caused by Gen AI.