Hellina Hailu Nigatu
@hellinanigatu.bsky.social
CS PhD candidate @UCBerkeley. Interested in multilingual and low-resourced language NLP + HCI. @SIGHPC CDS Fellow. Interned @MBZUAI. Current intern at DAIR
Website: https://hhnigatu.github.io
Website: https://hhnigatu.github.io
Pinned
I started a personal project a while back...Working on African languages, I meet people from all over the continent. I found it very interesting how similar we can be on some things and how drastically different we are on others. So I decided to read one book from each African country...🧵
Reposted by Hellina Hailu Nigatu
i’m looking to recruit a postdoc to work on this (documentation + evaluation on accuracy, reliability and societal impacts). hope to advertise detailed descriptions of the role in the coming weeks
anyone working on documentation (compiling some kind of inventory database) of use of llms within government bodies and for public service use, particularly in europe?
October 18, 2025 at 1:27 PM
i’m looking to recruit a postdoc to work on this (documentation + evaluation on accuracy, reliability and societal impacts). hope to advertise detailed descriptions of the role in the coming weeks
Book #12 How Dare the Sun Rise? By Sandra Uwiringiyimana from the DRC
This was a heavy one...I had to sit for a while with the first few chapters as Sandra recounted her experience of loss and greif...
This was a heavy one...I had to sit for a while with the first few chapters as Sandra recounted her experience of loss and greif...
I started a personal project a while back...Working on African languages, I meet people from all over the continent. I found it very interesting how similar we can be on some things and how drastically different we are on others. So I decided to read one book from each African country...🧵
October 16, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Book #12 How Dare the Sun Rise? By Sandra Uwiringiyimana from the DRC
This was a heavy one...I had to sit for a while with the first few chapters as Sandra recounted her experience of loss and greif...
This was a heavy one...I had to sit for a while with the first few chapters as Sandra recounted her experience of loss and greif...
Reposted by Hellina Hailu Nigatu
There is so much about navigating the Internet in a low resourced language that makes one unnecessarily vulnerable to malicious actors. It's not just a quality of experience difference, but literally the soft belly through which misinformation spreaders attack.
Very excited for our upcoming #AIES paper Into the Void: Understanding Online Health Information in Low-Web Data Languages.
Link: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.20245
1/n
Link: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.20245
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arxiv.org
September 25, 2025 at 10:21 PM
There is so much about navigating the Internet in a low resourced language that makes one unnecessarily vulnerable to malicious actors. It's not just a quality of experience difference, but literally the soft belly through which misinformation spreaders attack.
Very excited for our upcoming #AIES paper Into the Void: Understanding Online Health Information in Low-Web Data Languages.
Link: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.20245
1/n
Link: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.20245
1/n
arxiv.org
September 25, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Very excited for our upcoming #AIES paper Into the Void: Understanding Online Health Information in Low-Web Data Languages.
Link: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.20245
1/n
Link: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.20245
1/n
@meg48.bsky.social's Ethiopian new years gift to me is a new version of HornMorpho exactly as i am working on a project that requires morphological analyzer for Amharic, Tigrinya, and Afan Oromo 💃💃
September 23, 2025 at 5:00 PM
@meg48.bsky.social's Ethiopian new years gift to me is a new version of HornMorpho exactly as i am working on a project that requires morphological analyzer for Amharic, Tigrinya, and Afan Oromo 💃💃
Reposted by Hellina Hailu Nigatu
If you or your students are interested in visualization tools, may I suggest signing up for my student @parkie-doo.sh's study! We're learning *a lot* about how to build direct manipulation programming tools these days! Please pass the sign up link along to your labs!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
August 28, 2025 at 8:55 PM
If you or your students are interested in visualization tools, may I suggest signing up for my student @parkie-doo.sh's study! We're learning *a lot* about how to build direct manipulation programming tools these days! Please pass the sign up link along to your labs!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Hellina Hailu Nigatu
I am thrilled to be recognized by TIME as one of the 100 most influential people worldwide in the field of artificial intelligence for my work with @dataworkersinquiry.bsky.social.
>> #TIME100AI time.com/time100ai
I want to take this opportunity to share a few reflections on this work 👇🧵
>> #TIME100AI time.com/time100ai
I want to take this opportunity to share a few reflections on this work 👇🧵
August 28, 2025 at 12:21 PM
I am thrilled to be recognized by TIME as one of the 100 most influential people worldwide in the field of artificial intelligence for my work with @dataworkersinquiry.bsky.social.
>> #TIME100AI time.com/time100ai
I want to take this opportunity to share a few reflections on this work 👇🧵
>> #TIME100AI time.com/time100ai
I want to take this opportunity to share a few reflections on this work 👇🧵
I am gonna start a tally for every time i have to contend with publication policies at top tier conferences that implicitly stall Global South scholarship.
August 26, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I am gonna start a tally for every time i have to contend with publication policies at top tier conferences that implicitly stall Global South scholarship.
Lol here is an example:
A google translated Tigrinya article: ti.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%88%...
English version: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding...
I took the part that says "Ethiopia" from the English article and ran it through Google Translate...almost identical output save a few words.
A google translated Tigrinya article: ti.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%88%...
English version: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding...
I took the part that says "Ethiopia" from the English article and ran it through Google Translate...almost identical output save a few words.
August 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Lol here is an example:
A google translated Tigrinya article: ti.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%88%...
English version: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding...
I took the part that says "Ethiopia" from the English article and ran it through Google Translate...almost identical output save a few words.
A google translated Tigrinya article: ti.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%88%...
English version: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding...
I took the part that says "Ethiopia" from the English article and ran it through Google Translate...almost identical output save a few words.
Book #11
Missing in action and presumed Dead by Rashidah Ismaili from Benin
Got this from Thrift Books and by luck got a version with the author signature ☺️
Its a beautiful collection of poems and my fav one is Nomad attached in the picture below
Missing in action and presumed Dead by Rashidah Ismaili from Benin
Got this from Thrift Books and by luck got a version with the author signature ☺️
Its a beautiful collection of poems and my fav one is Nomad attached in the picture below
August 12, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Book #11
Missing in action and presumed Dead by Rashidah Ismaili from Benin
Got this from Thrift Books and by luck got a version with the author signature ☺️
Its a beautiful collection of poems and my fav one is Nomad attached in the picture below
Missing in action and presumed Dead by Rashidah Ismaili from Benin
Got this from Thrift Books and by luck got a version with the author signature ☺️
Its a beautiful collection of poems and my fav one is Nomad attached in the picture below
This is a good step IMO...but i think we conflate "Wikipedia" with "English Wikipedia" and "AI Generated" with "LLM generated"
We should also be having conversations on Machine Translated text in non-English Wikipedia...those are also "AI Generated"😐
We should also be having conversations on Machine Translated text in non-English Wikipedia...those are also "AI Generated"😐
Wikipedia's policy for handling AI-generated articles could be "an important example for how to deal with the growing AI slop problem from a platform that has so far managed to withstand various forms of enshittification that have plagued the rest of the internet." www.404media.co/wikipedia-ed...
Wikipedia Editors Adopt ‘Speedy Deletion’ Policy for AI Slop Articles
“The ability to quickly generate a lot of bogus content is problematic if we don't have a way to delete it just as quickly.”
www.404media.co
August 11, 2025 at 4:50 PM
This is a good step IMO...but i think we conflate "Wikipedia" with "English Wikipedia" and "AI Generated" with "LLM generated"
We should also be having conversations on Machine Translated text in non-English Wikipedia...those are also "AI Generated"😐
We should also be having conversations on Machine Translated text in non-English Wikipedia...those are also "AI Generated"😐
Reposted by Hellina Hailu Nigatu
My latest work, “Examining the Cultural Encoding of Gender Bias in LLMs for Low-Resourced African Languages,” co-authored with Abigail Oppong and Hellina Nigatu, is now published at the Workshop on Gender Bias in Natural Language Processing at #ACL2025!
aclanthology.org/2025.gebnlp-...
aclanthology.org/2025.gebnlp-...
July 30, 2025 at 8:16 PM
My latest work, “Examining the Cultural Encoding of Gender Bias in LLMs for Low-Resourced African Languages,” co-authored with Abigail Oppong and Hellina Nigatu, is now published at the Workshop on Gender Bias in Natural Language Processing at #ACL2025!
aclanthology.org/2025.gebnlp-...
aclanthology.org/2025.gebnlp-...
Book #10
In the company of Men by Veronique Tadjo of Cote d'Ivoire.
A moving story of how Ebola ravaged communities told through different perspectives in each chapter. My fav chapter is when the story is narrated by the Baobab tree. Also touchs on economic politics of healthcare services.
In the company of Men by Veronique Tadjo of Cote d'Ivoire.
A moving story of how Ebola ravaged communities told through different perspectives in each chapter. My fav chapter is when the story is narrated by the Baobab tree. Also touchs on economic politics of healthcare services.
July 28, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Book #10
In the company of Men by Veronique Tadjo of Cote d'Ivoire.
A moving story of how Ebola ravaged communities told through different perspectives in each chapter. My fav chapter is when the story is narrated by the Baobab tree. Also touchs on economic politics of healthcare services.
In the company of Men by Veronique Tadjo of Cote d'Ivoire.
A moving story of how Ebola ravaged communities told through different perspectives in each chapter. My fav chapter is when the story is narrated by the Baobab tree. Also touchs on economic politics of healthcare services.
Watching this lecture by Dr. Fasil and Dr. Egid..I have not finished it but thought i would share the link for anyone interested...my main point of interest so far is in difficulty of translating philosophical terms and the role of language in philosophical thought
www.youtube.com/live/JwXrGEC...
www.youtube.com/live/JwXrGEC...
The Linguistic Politics of Ethiopian Philosophy (Fasil Merawi & Jonathan Egid)
YouTube video by GloPhi – Philosophizing in a Globalized World
www.youtube.com
July 28, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Watching this lecture by Dr. Fasil and Dr. Egid..I have not finished it but thought i would share the link for anyone interested...my main point of interest so far is in difficulty of translating philosophical terms and the role of language in philosophical thought
www.youtube.com/live/JwXrGEC...
www.youtube.com/live/JwXrGEC...
Book #9 Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo from Zambia
My first thought is "intriguing." Details how aid harms African communities. However, I think there is little proposed as a practical recourse and that some of the depictions oversimplified the reality.
My first thought is "intriguing." Details how aid harms African communities. However, I think there is little proposed as a practical recourse and that some of the depictions oversimplified the reality.
July 27, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Book #9 Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo from Zambia
My first thought is "intriguing." Details how aid harms African communities. However, I think there is little proposed as a practical recourse and that some of the depictions oversimplified the reality.
My first thought is "intriguing." Details how aid harms African communities. However, I think there is little proposed as a practical recourse and that some of the depictions oversimplified the reality.
Book #8
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar by Emily Ruete
Similar to the memoir I read from Leila Abouzeid of Morocco in a lot of ways. There were some difficult and at times painful parts to read, especially as it relates to Blackness and the experiences of Tanzanians and Ethiopians.
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar by Emily Ruete
Similar to the memoir I read from Leila Abouzeid of Morocco in a lot of ways. There were some difficult and at times painful parts to read, especially as it relates to Blackness and the experiences of Tanzanians and Ethiopians.
July 24, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Book #8
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar by Emily Ruete
Similar to the memoir I read from Leila Abouzeid of Morocco in a lot of ways. There were some difficult and at times painful parts to read, especially as it relates to Blackness and the experiences of Tanzanians and Ethiopians.
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar by Emily Ruete
Similar to the memoir I read from Leila Abouzeid of Morocco in a lot of ways. There were some difficult and at times painful parts to read, especially as it relates to Blackness and the experiences of Tanzanians and Ethiopians.
Book #7
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali from Somalia
I don't think I can summarize my thoughts about this in a Bluesky post coz i have a lot of negative thoughts😅 so i am not going to attempt. Let's just say it was book #7 and leave it at that.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali from Somalia
I don't think I can summarize my thoughts about this in a Bluesky post coz i have a lot of negative thoughts😅 so i am not going to attempt. Let's just say it was book #7 and leave it at that.
I started a personal project a while back...Working on African languages, I meet people from all over the continent. I found it very interesting how similar we can be on some things and how drastically different we are on others. So I decided to read one book from each African country...🧵
July 24, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Book #7
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali from Somalia
I don't think I can summarize my thoughts about this in a Bluesky post coz i have a lot of negative thoughts😅 so i am not going to attempt. Let's just say it was book #7 and leave it at that.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali from Somalia
I don't think I can summarize my thoughts about this in a Bluesky post coz i have a lot of negative thoughts😅 so i am not going to attempt. Let's just say it was book #7 and leave it at that.
Book #6
Unbowed by Wangari Maathai from Kenya
A rec from @abeba.bsky.social ❤
One of the most powerful memoirs i have read. Many small similarities with growing up in Ethiopia, like being told being out in the rain will make you "grow", the central place fig trees have in the community...
Unbowed by Wangari Maathai from Kenya
A rec from @abeba.bsky.social ❤
One of the most powerful memoirs i have read. Many small similarities with growing up in Ethiopia, like being told being out in the rain will make you "grow", the central place fig trees have in the community...
July 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Book #6
Unbowed by Wangari Maathai from Kenya
A rec from @abeba.bsky.social ❤
One of the most powerful memoirs i have read. Many small similarities with growing up in Ethiopia, like being told being out in the rain will make you "grow", the central place fig trees have in the community...
Unbowed by Wangari Maathai from Kenya
A rec from @abeba.bsky.social ❤
One of the most powerful memoirs i have read. Many small similarities with growing up in Ethiopia, like being told being out in the rain will make you "grow", the central place fig trees have in the community...
Book #5
Unsung Giants Who Fought to Keep Africa Free by Okoth Owity Dpap from South Sudan
The author uses linguistic evidence for claims about the lineage of his people. How the /ɲ/ sound was removed from many words and that made it difficult to make connections.
Unsung Giants Who Fought to Keep Africa Free by Okoth Owity Dpap from South Sudan
The author uses linguistic evidence for claims about the lineage of his people. How the /ɲ/ sound was removed from many words and that made it difficult to make connections.
July 23, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Book #5
Unsung Giants Who Fought to Keep Africa Free by Okoth Owity Dpap from South Sudan
The author uses linguistic evidence for claims about the lineage of his people. How the /ɲ/ sound was removed from many words and that made it difficult to make connections.
Unsung Giants Who Fought to Keep Africa Free by Okoth Owity Dpap from South Sudan
The author uses linguistic evidence for claims about the lineage of his people. How the /ɲ/ sound was removed from many words and that made it difficult to make connections.
Book #4
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This one i am sneaking in even though i read it years ago (if you know you know)
There was a part that stuck with me...when power goes out in the city and comes back, the whole neighborhood cheers. And we do the exact same thing in Addis 😁
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This one i am sneaking in even though i read it years ago (if you know you know)
There was a part that stuck with me...when power goes out in the city and comes back, the whole neighborhood cheers. And we do the exact same thing in Addis 😁
I started a personal project a while back...Working on African languages, I meet people from all over the continent. I found it very interesting how similar we can be on some things and how drastically different we are on others. So I decided to read one book from each African country...🧵
July 23, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Book #4
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This one i am sneaking in even though i read it years ago (if you know you know)
There was a part that stuck with me...when power goes out in the city and comes back, the whole neighborhood cheers. And we do the exact same thing in Addis 😁
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This one i am sneaking in even though i read it years ago (if you know you know)
There was a part that stuck with me...when power goes out in the city and comes back, the whole neighborhood cheers. And we do the exact same thing in Addis 😁
Book #3
Return to Childhood by Leila Abouzeid from Morocco
This was interesting in that it was a translation from Arabic and as someone who speaks a bit of Arabic, i could tell small features of the language being reflected :-)
Also gave me a glimps into experience of Blackness in Morocco.
Return to Childhood by Leila Abouzeid from Morocco
This was interesting in that it was a translation from Arabic and as someone who speaks a bit of Arabic, i could tell small features of the language being reflected :-)
Also gave me a glimps into experience of Blackness in Morocco.
July 23, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Book #3
Return to Childhood by Leila Abouzeid from Morocco
This was interesting in that it was a translation from Arabic and as someone who speaks a bit of Arabic, i could tell small features of the language being reflected :-)
Also gave me a glimps into experience of Blackness in Morocco.
Return to Childhood by Leila Abouzeid from Morocco
This was interesting in that it was a translation from Arabic and as someone who speaks a bit of Arabic, i could tell small features of the language being reflected :-)
Also gave me a glimps into experience of Blackness in Morocco.
I will be virtually at #ACL2025 next week!!!
Virtual poster for bsky.app/profile/hell...
Virtual poster for: bsky.app/profile/hell...
And an invited talk for AfricaNLP 2025: sites.google.com/view/african...
Virtual poster for bsky.app/profile/hell...
Virtual poster for: bsky.app/profile/hell...
And an invited talk for AfricaNLP 2025: sites.google.com/view/african...
AfricaNLP 2025
About the Workshop
sites.google.com
July 22, 2025 at 10:00 PM
I will be virtually at #ACL2025 next week!!!
Virtual poster for bsky.app/profile/hell...
Virtual poster for: bsky.app/profile/hell...
And an invited talk for AfricaNLP 2025: sites.google.com/view/african...
Virtual poster for bsky.app/profile/hell...
Virtual poster for: bsky.app/profile/hell...
And an invited talk for AfricaNLP 2025: sites.google.com/view/african...
New paper accepted to AfricaNLP 2025:
Exploring Transliteration-Based Zero-Shot Transfer for Amharic ASR
with Prof. Hanan Aldarmaki from MBZUAI
Exploring Transliteration-Based Zero-Shot Transfer for Amharic ASR
with Prof. Hanan Aldarmaki from MBZUAI
July 22, 2025 at 9:58 PM
New paper accepted to AfricaNLP 2025:
Exploring Transliteration-Based Zero-Shot Transfer for Amharic ASR
with Prof. Hanan Aldarmaki from MBZUAI
Exploring Transliteration-Based Zero-Shot Transfer for Amharic ASR
with Prof. Hanan Aldarmaki from MBZUAI
New paper accepted to the Findings of #ACL2025:
mRAKL: Multilingual Retrieval-Augmented Knowledge Graph Construction for Low-Resourced Languages.
Work done in collaboration with folks from Apple (Min Li, @maartjeterhoeve.bsky.social , Saloni Potdar) and my advisor @schasins.bsky.social
mRAKL: Multilingual Retrieval-Augmented Knowledge Graph Construction for Low-Resourced Languages.
Work done in collaboration with folks from Apple (Min Li, @maartjeterhoeve.bsky.social , Saloni Potdar) and my advisor @schasins.bsky.social
July 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
New paper accepted to the Findings of #ACL2025:
mRAKL: Multilingual Retrieval-Augmented Knowledge Graph Construction for Low-Resourced Languages.
Work done in collaboration with folks from Apple (Min Li, @maartjeterhoeve.bsky.social , Saloni Potdar) and my advisor @schasins.bsky.social
mRAKL: Multilingual Retrieval-Augmented Knowledge Graph Construction for Low-Resourced Languages.
Work done in collaboration with folks from Apple (Min Li, @maartjeterhoeve.bsky.social , Saloni Potdar) and my advisor @schasins.bsky.social