Company seeks stammering samples to train AI

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Tech company AImpower is offering £35 for recordings of stammering to help AI technology recognise disfluent voices.

AImpower is an independent not-for-profit company aiming to empower marginalised voices when using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. One of their current projects is around speech-based AI, which they argue isn't exactly stammer-friendly. Founder and CEO Shaomei Wu says, "Most existing speech recognition systems don't work well for people who stammer, as they have been trained and optimised for fluent speech".

To change this, they are collecting diverse and authentic stammered speech data to help re-train and improve speech technologies so that they're more responsive and accessible for people who stammer.

AIpower have already collected voices for its Chinese dataset and are now looking for English speakers aged 18+ who stammer to contribute speech samples.

What does it involve?

Shaomei invites you to participate in a one-hour Zoom session involving spontaneous conversation and reciting voice commands. For your trouble, they will give you a £35 Amazon gift card or PayPal compensation. Click on the link below to apply.

Fill out the sign up form for AIMpower's Stuttered Speech Data Collection Project. 

Shaomei tells us: "By contributing your voice, you will help us gather much-needed data to improve these technologies".

Please note this is not related to STAMMA. Participants take part as their own risk, but AIMpower has put multiple mechanisms in place to safeguard the use of your data as much as possible. Shaomei explains how they'll store and use the data: "Recordings are securely stored, anonymised and used for research to enhance speech recognition systems, helping to eliminate barriers for the stammering community. The audio recordings will also be made available to researchers and developers working to create more inclusive speech products". 

When you apply, AImpower will send you their privacy policy and a consent form. We encourage you to read through it and only tick off items on the consent form that you are comfortable with.

Visit AIpower's website to read more about their projects.