This AI Camp Is Teaching Teens to Preserve Their Lakota Language

In South Dakota, one summer camp is blending tech and tradition to preserve their endangered Indigenous language. The Lakota AI Code Camp is a three-week program where native teens learn tech skills to build an app that records the Lakota language and culture.

It is estimated that only 2,200 Lakota first-language speakers remain. The camp was co-founded in 2021 by data scientist Mason Grimshaw and researcher Michael Running Wolf, whose work is dedicated to revitalizing native languages using AI and virtual reality. Through the program, they hope to inspire students to pursue computer science degrees and be future tech leaders.

Native Americans make up less than one percent of leadership roles at tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, according to a study by the Kapor Center and American Indian Science and Engineering Society. Tatanka Hahin Zephier, a student at the camp two years ago, helps teach the classes today. “This goes for all indigenous people but being Lakota is a good life but it's a hard life,” he said, “I wouldn't be where I am today without the camp and without the mentors.”