Listen to Rudaw articles with new AI reading feature

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Rudaw Media Network on Saturday announced that its readers can listen to articles posted on the website in four languages, including the Kurmanji and Sorani dialects of Kurdish. This is the first time Kurdish text has been converted to speech by Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

Rudaw Digital produces content in Kurdish (both Kurmanji and Sorani dialects), English, Arabic and Turkish languages. The AI Desk of Rudaw announced on Saturday that readers can listen to news in all these languages and dialects - thanks to AI-generated speech in what is an unprecedented development for the Kurdish language in the digital sphere. The feature will be available later on Saturday. 

“Give your eyes a rest and listen” is the motto of the project that was carried out by local staff, including developer Karwan Khalid who did the coding. 

“This project is another step by Rudaw to upgrade the quality of news and deliver it most swiftly to readers,” said Brwa Kiyani, head of Rudaw Digital. 

Hejar Berenji, Chief Technical Officer at Rudaw, said Rudaw plans to introduce a series of features on its social media platforms and websites that are completely reliant on AI, including fact-checking.
 

Updated at 9:55 am