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
+
Campaign
+
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
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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