Languages are more than a means of communication—they are the lifeblood of culture, history, and human identity. Every language carries the stories, traditions and wisdom of its people. Recognising this, Lingua Aeterna is on a mission to safeguard the world’s endangered languages, ensuring their survival for future generations. In partnership with Piql, Lingua Aeterna is taking crucial steps to safeguard this invaluable cultural asset of humanity and make the linguistic diversity of today accessible to tomorrow’s world.

Preserving the Echoes of Humanity

Jack Connor, a passionate language conservationist, founded Lingua Aeterna after playing a crucial role in developing several language-focused AI systems. With advances in Large Language Model (LLM) technology, Jack saw an unprecedented opportunity: the creation of interactive records of endangered languages—an innovative approach to ensure their survival for future generations.

Lingua Aeterna stores this knowledge, along with supporting documents and media, in long-term data repositories like the Arctic World Archive. Their work has revealed previously unknown connections between cultures, and even uncovered traces of lost civilisations.

From Fragile to Future-Proof

Lingua Aeterna’s deposit comprises a piqlFilm containing over 550+ languages, many of which are endangered, while some have already gone extinct. This valuable collection includes AI-powered language models, dictionaries, audio recordings of native speakers, classic films, and literature in these languages. Additionally, the deposit includes extensive contextual information—books, articles, and white papers—explaining the unique linguistic and cultural significance of each language.

With these materials, Lingua Aeterna has ensured that even the most fragile and rare languages are preserved in their entirety. By capturing not just vocabulary and grammar but also stories, recordings, and cultural context, they have created a digital archive that future generations can access and learn from.

Challenge: A Race Against Extinction

Languages are disappearing at an alarming rate. As societies evolve, many languages lose native speakers and are forgotten. Lingua Aeterna’s primary challenge is to ensure that this crucial aspect of human heritage is not lost forever. The task of safeguarding language data for thousands of years is immense. Traditional digital storage methods degrade over time or become obsolete, making them insufficient for a mission of this scale. Lingua Aeterna sought a solution that could ensure the long-term preservation of their data—one that could withstand the test of time and changing technologies.

Why Piql?

Lingua Aeterna selected Piql as the ideal partner because of its unique storage solution—piqlFilm. Designed to last for over a thousand years, piqlFilm offers durability far beyond traditional digital media. It’s immune to environmental factors like electromagnetic radiation and technological obsolescence, ensuring that language data remains secure and accessible for future generations. Piql’s storage system allowed the preservation of AI models, audiovisual content, and crucial contextual documentation, all while ensuring that the stored data remains intact and readable for centuries to come.

The first deposit is only the beginning, with plans to preserve all 7,000 of the world’s languages in partnership with the AWA.

Conclusion

The preservation of endangered languages is not only a technical feat but also a profound cultural responsibility. Lingua Aeterna’s partnership with Piql represents a pioneering step towards ensuring that the world’s linguistic heritage is saved for the future.

Together, we are ensuring that the voices of today will resonate for generations to come, allowing future societies to study, learn, and connect with the diverse tapestry of human language.