# Plurification in/of language technology -- The integration of culture in next-generation AI

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.22097 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.22097/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 11 of its 47 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 Jun 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 11 of 11)

- [Datasheets for Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.09010/) (2018)
- [Model Cards for Model Reporting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.03993/) (2018)
- [Language (Technology) is Power: A Critical Survey of "Bias" in NLP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14050/) (2020)
- [Closing the AI Accountability Gap: Defining an End-to-End Framework for Internal Algorithmic Auditing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.00973/) (2020)
- [Participatory Research for Low-resourced Machine Translation: A Case Study in African Languages](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.02353/) (2020)
- [Challenges of language technologies for the indigenous languages of the Americas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.04291/) (2018)
- [Using Linguistic Typology to Enrich Multilingual Lexicons: the Case of Lexical Gaps in Kinship](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.05049/) (2022)
- [Representing Interlingual Meaning in Lexical Databases](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.09169/) (2023)
- [From Knowledge Representation to Knowledge Organization and Back](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.07302/) (2023)
- [Layers of technology in pluriversal design. Decolonising language technology with the LiveLanguage initiative](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.01783/) (2024)
- [Multilinguality at the Edge: Developing Language Models for the Global South](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.21637/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

The paper explores how "culture" can be operationalised in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and what this reveals about the possibilities and limits of considering a plurality of cultural backgrounds in technological design. It proposes that cultural alignment cannot be achieved only by adding more examples of "other cultures", rather it requires plural epistemologies: allowing multiple, locally grounded ways of knowing. To analyze how this plurality of knowing can be addressed in NLP, the paper uses a socio-technical model of language technology (LT) design, the five layers of technological activity model, for collecting and systematizing approaches to culture in NLP. The analysis shows that while NLP research has made progress toward more culturally sensitive systems, many approaches remain partial, addressing "culture" primarily at the level of output or representation while leaving deeper questions of power, governance, and social context unresolved. The paper concludes that operationalising culture requires much more than technical adaptation; it suggests a reflexive and plural socio-technical approach that navigates potentials and limits of computational formalisation for accounting multiple linguistic and socio-cultural backgrounds.