Immortals AI

Immortals AI

Sberbank

Sberbank

AI

+

Campaign

+

Mobile

According to UNESCO, there are 98 indigenous languages in Russia at risk of disappearing within the next 50 years, some with only a few native speakers remaining.

We traveled to remote villages across Russia, capturing hundreds of hours of native speech from tribal elders to build a uniquely rich linguistic database. Leveraging advanced statistical translation techniques, we trained an AI capable of understanding these ancient languages, ensuring their survival for future generations.

Indigenous tribes remain largely invisible to most Russians, as their languages were widely supplanted by Russian during the Soviet period.

Indigenous tribes remain largely invisible to most Russians, as their languages were widely supplanted by Russian during the Soviet period.

The project “Immortal Natives” was launched to learn, preserve, and teach these languages using AI.
The project “Immortal Natives” was launched to learn, preserve, and teach these languages using AI.

Way before large language models changed the translation landscape, in 2019 we pioneered a machine translation system to help preserve three critically endangered indigenous languages — Nganasan, Ulch, and Ingrian — each spoken by only a handful of people in Russia’s remote regions. By carefully employing statistical machine translation and developing tailored morphological processing methods, we overcame the enormous challenge posed by extremely limited linguistic resources.

Despite scarce data, our approach produced effective translations, enabling these rare languages to survive and reach new generations. The initiative resonated widely, spotlighting previously overlooked cultures and bringing the beauty of these ancient languages into public awareness.

Results

Paid media reached 35 million people, while social media, press, TV shows, and news coverage added another 70 million. The campaign sparked a nationwide conversation about disappearing languages that lasted for nine weeks.

Until this initiative, most Russians had never even known these languages existed.

Credits

Creative Director

Polina Zabrodskaya

Creative Director

Grisha Sorokin

Creative Director

Gleb Glonti

Art Director

Grisha Sorokin

Copywriter

Polina Zabrodskaya

Copywriter

Evgenija Judzhenich

ML/AI Engineer

Konstantin Selivanov

Creative Technologist

Anton Shcherbakov

Designer

Holga Balina

Designer

Vit Abrams

Producer

Dina Plitukhina

Producer

Gleb Glonti

CG Artist

Igor Sordokhonov 


Client

Sberbank

Year

2019

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Immortals AI

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Sberbank

AI

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Campaign

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Mobile

/ About the project

According to UNESCO, there are 98 indigenous languages in Russia at risk of disappearing within the next 50 years, some with only a few native speakers remaining.

We traveled to remote villages across Russia, capturing hundreds of hours of native speech from tribal elders to build a uniquely rich linguistic database. Leveraging advanced statistical translation techniques, we trained an AI capable of understanding these ancient languages, ensuring their survival for future generations.

According to UNESCO, there are 98 indigenous languages in Russia at risk of disappearing within the next 50 years, some with only a few native speakers remaining.

We traveled to remote villages across Russia, capturing hundreds of hours of native speech from tribal elders to build a uniquely rich linguistic database. Leveraging advanced statistical translation techniques, we trained an AI capable of understanding these ancient languages, ensuring their survival for future generations.

/ Credits

Client:

Harmony, Inc.

Creative Director:

Elvis Bennet

Art Director:

Joseph Lewis

/ Year

2019

OTHER

PROJECTS

Get in touch

According to UNESCO, there are 98 indigenous languages in Russia at risk of disappearing within the next 50 years, some with only a few native speakers remaining.

We traveled to remote villages across Russia, capturing hundreds of hours of native speech from tribal elders to build a uniquely rich linguistic database. Leveraging advanced statistical translation techniques, we trained an AI capable of understanding these ancient languages, ensuring their survival for future generations.

Indigenous tribes remain largely invisible to most Russians, as their languages were widely supplanted by Russian during the Soviet period.

The project “Immortal Natives” was launched to learn, preserve, and teach these languages using AI.

Way before large language models changed the translation landscape, in 2019 we pioneered a machine translation system to help preserve three critically endangered indigenous languages — Nganasan, Ulch, and Ingrian — each spoken by only a handful of people in Russia’s remote regions. By carefully employing statistical machine translation and developing tailored morphological processing methods, we overcame the enormous challenge posed by extremely limited linguistic resources.

Despite scarce data, our approach produced effective translations, enabling these rare languages to survive and reach new generations. The initiative resonated widely, spotlighting previously overlooked cultures and bringing the beauty of these ancient languages into public awareness.

Results

Paid media reached 35 million people, while social media, press, TV shows, and news coverage added another 70 million. The campaign sparked a nationwide conversation about disappearing languages that lasted for nine weeks.

Until this initiative, most Russians had never even known these languages existed.

Credits

Creative Director

Polina Zabrodskaya

Creative Director

Grisha Sorokin

Creative Director

Gleb Glonti

Art Director

Grisha Sorokin

Copywriter

Polina Zabrodskaya

Copywriter

Evgenija Judzhenich

ML/AI Engineer

Konstantin Selivanov

Creative Technologist

Anton Shcherbakov

Designer

Holga Balina

Designer

Vit Abrams

Producer

Dina Plitukhina

Producer

Gleb Glonti

CG Artist

Igor Sordokhonov 


Client

Sberbank

Year

2019

More

projects