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Knightlife

An update from T.R. and Angie Knight
Serving with SIL International - Language Technology

April 2023 - Have you been hearing about ChatGPT in the news? Or words like Generative AI, Artificial Intelligence, or Natural Language Processing?

How can these technologies help with Language and Bible Translation?

This month, T.R. attended the online portion of the Global Missional AI Summit 2023, hosted at the Wycliffe Headquarters in Orlando, FL. This conference focuses on applying artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing to issues in the missional space. The theme this year was Innovation Through Data Collaboration.

Quotes that really challenged us this week:

“ChatGPT was a Sputnik moment (Generative AI). It has become an arms race.”

“Christians need to be educated on, share ideas, collaborate on Generative AI & take a leadership role to develop AI tech.”

“Divine Intelligence is greater than Human Intelligence and Machine Intelligence, don't put Human Intelligence and Machine Intelligence above Divine Intelligence.”

​"Do I have eyes to see where God is already at work, joining Him where he's already at work?”

SIL continues to be engaged in the research and application of Artificial Intelligence for Bible Translation. Within Language Technology at SIL, we have two significant projects reporting to T.R. that focus on Artificial Intelligence and Bible Translation. The Scripture Forge application currently uses statistical and machine learning to provide translation suggestions with plans to integrate that with our newest natural language processing project, Serval, which brings together multiple AI and NLP technologies developed at SIL into a common solution that enables incremental and batch machine translation and AI-enabled quality estimation for Bible content.

Yeah, that is a lot of technical jargon. In simple terms, teams reporting to T.R. and partnering with the ETEN Innovation Lab and Biblica are researching and utilizing AI tools to assist with the translation of the Bible. So, while ChatGPT and Generative AI are in the news, SIL is putting the technologies to work for God’s Kingdom.

God at Work

“God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply.” - Hudson Taylor

Here are some things He has done recently:

• As of April 2023, SIL active projects are impacting 855+ million people, 1341 communities, in 98 countries.

• 134 people in person and over 100 online attendees from over 80 organizations attended the Global Missional AI Summit (https://missional.ai/) to share and discuss about how AI technologies can impact the Kingdom.

• A new member will hopefully be joining in June as our Talent Acquisition Manager to engage with recruiting and mobilization for Language Technology.

• The Scripture Forge and Paratext teams have recently had new staff join their projects.

I hope this small glimpse encourages you to see what God is doing through all of us serving at SIL International.

Prayer and Praise

• Please pray for the Language Technology leadership team as we continue to seek a new Director of Language Software Development.

• Please pray for T.R. and his Talent Acquisition team as there has been a delay until June of the new Talent Acquisition Manager joining the team.

• Please pray as Angie and T.R. navigate current challenges with her Multiple Sclerosis.

• Praising God as our daughter, Rachel, will be graduating from IU with a Master of Library Science on May 5th. Please pray as Rachel is seeking employment post-graduation and planning for her June wedding.

• Praising God for Spring and the return of warmer weather.

• Please let us know how can be praying for you!

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

In Him,
T.R. and Angie Knight

Curious about our family?

We know what you really want. You heard the word dog and now want to see Magnolia pictures.

Look at that good dog!

How can you support the work we are doing with SIL International?

Glad you asked! T.R. is currently in a fully funded position in his role as Director of Bible Translation Software. The finances come from a funding organization devoted to innovation in Bible Translation. Because T.R.’s position is fully funded, we are not currently requesting you to partner with us financially. What we could use the most are your prayers and encouragement. If you would like to financially support the work that SIL does, you can give online or via check. Currently, online donations go to a central fund for SIL. We are in process of implementing a new online donation website that would allow you to give to my department’s projects or even to my work specifically. If you give via check, you can include in the note field a designation of Bible Translation Software - KBTD16. Thank you for your prayers and support.