By targeting low-resource languages such as Amharic, Hasab AI is not only filling a critical gap in the AI landscape but also creating space for the inclusion and preservation of these languages in the digital era.
. . .
Hasab AI launched its new voice AI platform that offers integrated AI solutions for Ethiopian languages. A first of its kind in Ethiopia, Hasab AI provides transcription, subtitle creation, and translation services for audio in Amharic and other Ethiopian languages.
The project started when the founder, Kidus Yared, was a student at AASTU, where he also met his cofounder. While studying software engineering, Kidus enrolled in a fast-track program where he took graduate-level courses on AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP). Laying the foundations of Hasab AI was a lengthy process, Kidus says, taking about 3-4 years.
Although laying the foundations took a while, building the project was a fast process. Hasab AI was built in 9 months. Explaining their strategy behind the speed, Kidus says that they prioritized failing fast and iterating quickly.
Hasab AI currently has a freemium model. Users joining the platform will get a limited number of tokens, which they can use to access Hasab AI’s services. Users can then buy tokens to continue to use the platform. Payment is integrated into the platform to accept both local and foreign currencies.
Working with a low-resource language like Amharic, providing top-tier AI transcription services can be challenging, but this doesn’t seem to be an issue with Hasab. As a test, we tried out its transcription model using snippets from our previous podcast episodes. Here’s the output we got and how it compared to other AI transcription platforms:
ልብስ አይደለም የምንሸጠው የሆነ አይነት ደስታን ነው የምትሸጠው የሆነ አይነት ስሜት ነው ማለት የምትሸጠው ልብሳችሁ ጋር አያይዛችሁ የምትሸጡት ኤክስፒሪያንስ አንተ ስትገልጸው እንዴት ነው? Fashion fundamentally is a business of storytelling እና በልብስ ውስጥ ስቶሪ ነው የምትናገረው ያለን የ cultural richness ብዙ ነው ተመንዝሮ ማያልቅ ነው ከድሮም እንዳልኩህ እናቴ ይሄን ነገር የዛሬ ብዙ አመት ስታስበው ልብሱ አልነበረም ልብሱ ታሪካችንን መግለጫ ነው ማንነታችንን ማሳያ ነው I'm wearing a piece of story a piece of history! አለ አይደል ታሪክን ነው ያረኩት ከመጀመሪያም አእምሮአችን ውስጥ የነበረ ነገር
Gemini 2.5 Pro
These comparisons make it clear: Hasab AI's performance is impressive, with its transcription model delivering near-perfect results on first release, on par with global giants like Gemini. By targeting low-resource languages such as Amharic, Hasab AI is not only filling a critical gap in the AI landscape but also creating space for the inclusion and preservation of these languages in the digital era.
Although Hasab AI’s achievements are impressive, they mark only the beginning. To start, the platform will launch as a mobile app. Founder Kidus also revealed ambitious plans for expansion, including a cross-language subtitle translation feature, a crowdsourced data annotation platform accessible via app and Telegram bot to address the scarcity of data for Ethiopian languages, and a call tagging and categorization solution tailored for call centers.
With a promising start and a bright future ahead, Hasab AI is positioning itself as a leading AI platform for Ethiopia. As it expands to include other low-resource African languages, it aims to become a premier AI platform for the entire continent.
