# Towards Open-Ended Discovery for Low-Resource NLP

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01220 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.01220/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 32 of its 51 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 22 Sep 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 32)

- [BERT: Pre-training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.04805/) (2018)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Scaling Laws for Neural Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.08361/) (2020)
- [On Calibration of Modern Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.04599/) (2017)
- [Dropout as a Bayesian Approximation: Representing Model Uncertainty in Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.02142/) (2015)
- [What Uncertainties Do We Need in Bayesian Deep Learning for Computer Vision?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.04977/) (2017)
- [BLOOM: A 176B-Parameter Open-Access Multilingual Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.05100/) (2022)
- [Energy and Policy Considerations for Deep Learning in NLP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.02243/) (2019)
- [Deep Bayesian Active Learning with Image Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.02910/) (2017)
- [The State and Fate of Linguistic Diversity and Inclusion in the NLP World](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.09095/) (2020)
- [Green AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.10597/) (2019)
- [Weight Uncertainty in Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.05424/) (2015)
- [BatchBALD: Efficient and Diverse Batch Acquisition for Deep Bayesian Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.08158/) (2019)
- [Participatory Research for Low-resourced Machine Translation: A Case Study in African Languages](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02353/) (2020)
- [Power to the People? Opportunities and Challenges for Participatory AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.07572/) (2022)
- [Uncertainty as a Form of Transparency: Measuring, Communicating, and Using Uncertainty](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.07586/) (2020)
- [AI Transparency in the Age of LLMs: A Human-Centered Research Roadmap](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.01941/) (2023)
- [Re-imagining Algorithmic Fairness in India and Beyond](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.09995/) (2021)
- [CoAnnotating: Uncertainty-Guided Work Allocation between Human and Large Language Models for Data Annotation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.15638/) (2023)
- [The Participatory Turn in AI Design: Theoretical Foundations and the Current State of Practice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.00907/) (2023)
- [Open-Endedness is Essential for Artificial Superhuman Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.04268/) (2024)
- [AfroLM: A Self-Active Learning-based Multilingual Pretrained Language Model for 23 African Languages](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.03263/) (2022)
- [Human Uncertainty in Concept-Based AI Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12872/) (2023)
- [Stochastic Batch Acquisition: A Simple Baseline for Deep Active Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12059/) (2021)
- [AfriSpeech-200: Pan-African Accented Speech Dataset for Clinical and General Domain ASR](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.00274/) (2023)
- [FFR v1.1: Fon-French Neural Machine Translation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.09217/) (2020)
- [OkwuGb'e: End-to-End Speech Recognition for Fon and Igbo](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.07762/) (2021)
- [Automated Capability Discovery via Foundation Model Self-Exploration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.07577/) (2025)
- [AfriNames: Most ASR models "butcher" African Names](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.00253/) (2023)
- [Crowdsourced Phrase-Based Tokenization for Low-Resourced Neural Machine Translation: The Case of Fon Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.08052/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Multilinguality at the Edge: Developing Language Models for the Global South](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.21637/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Natural Language Processing (NLP) for low-resource languages remains fundamentally constrained by the lack of textual corpora, standardized orthographies, and scalable annotation pipelines. While recent advances in large language models have improved cross-lingual transfer, they remain inaccessible to underrepresented communities due to their reliance on massive, pre-collected data and centralized infrastructure. In this position paper, we argue for a paradigm shift toward open-ended, interactive language discovery, where AI systems learn new languages dynamically through dialogue rather than static datasets. We contend that the future of language technology, particularly for low-resource and under-documented languages, must move beyond static data collection pipelines toward interactive, uncertainty-driven discovery, where learning emerges dynamically from human-machine collaboration instead of being limited to pre-existing datasets. We propose a framework grounded in joint human-machine uncertainty, combining epistemic uncertainty from the model with hesitation cues and confidence signals from human speakers to guide interaction, query selection, and memory retention. This paper is a call to action: we advocate a rethinking of how AI engages with human knowledge in under-documented languages, moving from extractive data collection toward participatory, co-adaptive learning processes that respect and empower communities while discovering and preserving the world's linguistic diversity. This vision aligns with principles of human-centered AI, emphasizing interactive, cooperative model building between AI systems and speakers.