Google says it has expanded language support for its artificial intelligence-powered search features to include Yorùbá and Hausa in Nigeria.
The company’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager for West Africa, 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, enabling quick summaries and more conversational exploration of information online.
Kola-Ogunlade noted that the expansion is part of Google’s broader effort to make AI more inclusive across Africa.
He said the development increases the number of African languages supported by the company’s AI search features to 13.
According to him, the update will enable more Nigerians to interact with search in familiar languages when seeking information online.
He added that a student in Kano, for example, could ask questions in Hausa, while a trader in Ibadan could 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 will allow users to ask complex questions in their preferred language through text or voice while exploring the web more naturally.
NAN
