OCI Data Science

Choctaw Nation preserves its language using a fine-tuned Llama AI translation system on Oracle AI infrastructure

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, whose native language has dwindled to about 300 first-language speakers, built an AI-powered translation application using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Data Science, OCI AI infrastructure, and Oracle APEX. Tribal linguists fine-tuned Meta's Llama large language models to validate translations between English and Choctaw. When a translation request comes in, an AI agent uses the fine-tuned Llama model with retrieval-augmented generation to consult dictionary resources and validated translation databases, generating a proposed translation that human linguists then review and refine. The application can extract and validate translation pairs from historical documents such as 19th-century newspapers and interview transcripts. Using Oracle AI infrastructure and model fine-tuning tools, tribal linguists can process double the translation requests per day compared to the prior manual process, and sensitive language data stays within Choctaw-controlled OCI environments for data residency and cultural protection.