Research & Products

Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot have made powerful AI assistance available to anyone with a phone or computer. At AI Anima, we are building our own Cree chatbot, because for Cree people, this technology represents a profound opportunity. Our people have always been curious and innovative, and having access to our own AI will be an important part of ensuring we flourish creatively and economically in the future.

Generative AI is collapsing the distance between an idea and its execution. Creatives use it to brainstorm and explore. Students structure essays and sharpen arguments. Professionals draft reports and summarize meetings in seconds. Entrepreneurs generate business plans and pitch decks with a single prompt.

Unlike general AI assistants with limited Cree knowledge, AI Anima's chatbot is the first to think, reason, and respond natively in Cree, with deep expertise in our dialect.

Imagine our elders and leaders speaking in Cree, while an English audience follows along through live captions. For generations, our people have had to meet English-speaking governments, corporations, and institutions on their terms. Not anymore. Imagine a band meeting where every announcement is spoken in both languages simultaneously. A doctor's appointment where nothing gets lost between languages. A young person texting a grandparent, with translation happening invisibly in the background.

AI-powered translation goes beyond swapping words. It understands grammar, context, and nuance. Tools like real-time captioning, live audio interpretation, and instant messaging translation are already reshaping how so many other languages coexist in multilingual communities around the world.

Many languages are already supported by modern tools like Apple Live Translation. What makes this possible? A robust language model like the one AI Anima is building.

Imagine picking up your phone and seeing your language. For the community of Cross Lake, this future is within reach. A world where navigating your settings, sending a message, or setting a reminder happens entirely in Cree. Where children grow up seeing their language on screens, woven into the technology they use every day.

The AI Anima 'Learn Syllabics' keyboard and font system were originally built to standardize spelling in our training text corpus and facilitate efficient tokenization. Syllabics are a natural fit for AI, where each character encodes a full syllable rather than a single letter, making the model faster and more efficient to train. But now, anyone curious about reading and writing in Cree has this awesome tool to help them get used to Syllabics!

Every tool described on this page is also a teaching tool, making learning Cree more accessible, interactive, and alive than ever before. But the possibilities for formal education go even further. Right now, Cree is primarily taught as a standalone subject. Bringing it into math, science, history, or social studies has always been possible in theory, but in practice it required enormous effort from individual teachers with limited time and resources. AI Anima changes that equation. Teaching materials can be translated and adapted seamlessly. And because AI Anima's model can underpin digital learning apps, entirely new interactive tools built around Cree can be developed quickly and affordably, turning what was once a heroic individual effort into something any teacher or developer can build on.

Our language model will become the foundation of modern Cree dictionary apps. Look up a single word and get more than a definition. You get example sentences, related terms, and the cultural context that gives the word its full meaning. Type in a full sentence and see how it is constructed. Conjugate any verb across tenses, persons, and modes, instantly. Ask how a word changes depending on who is speaking, who is being spoken to, or how many people are involved. Cree grammar is rich and precise, and this tool is built to reflect that. Learners can explore the language at their own pace, following curiosity rather than flipping through pages. Teachers can generate examples on the fly. Speakers can settle debates about usage or spelling in seconds. Researchers and linguists can query patterns across the entire lexicon.

Over time, as more community members contribute, the dictionary grows. New words, youth slang, regional variations, and contemporary expressions find their place alongside the traditional. It becomes a living record, shaped by the people who speak the language every day.

The Cree language has always lived in the voice. In conversation, in ceremony, in the stories passed from one generation to the next. Speech tools based on AI Anima's models bring that living quality into the digital world.

With text-to-speech, written Cree comes alive in ways never before possible. Audiobooks narrated in a fluent Cree voice. Language learning apps that model correct pronunciation in real time. GPS and home assistants that speak Cree. Digital characters in games and interactive stories that respond and speak in the language.

With speech-to-text, the voice becomes text instantly and accurately. Elders can narrate memories that are transcribed automatically as they speak. Community journalists and podcasters can generate Cree transcripts of their recordings. Students can dictate essays and assignments. Developers can build entirely new voice-activated tools rooted in Cree.

Viral Cree!

Our young people are very active on social media, making videos, streaming, building audiences, and shaping culture online. Usually in English! With Cree AI powering the digital tools they already use, those creators gain something powerful: the ability to build virtual communities in their own language. Imagine TikTok captions, stream overlays, comment sections, and content descriptions in Cree. A young creator who builds an audience in Cree is not just growing a following, they are building a virtual gathering place, a space where the language is current, cool, and alive.

Imagine watching your favourite movies in Cree. Advances in AI-powered translation and speech synthesis are making this possible faster than ever before. Tools that once required years of linguistic labour can now assist fluent speakers and language professionals in producing accurate translations in a fraction of the time. For Cross Lake, this means translations can be developed, refined, and deployed at scale. The result is a future where streaming platforms, games, and digital media are not just accessible in Cree, but feel native to it.

I was so pleased when I picked up "Voices From The Wilds" by Viola Menow in 2017, at the Band Office. It is a book about the lives of Albert Sinclair and Charles Sinclair.

Every Cross Laker carries an inner world. Memories, stories, imaginary landscapes, and ancestral knowledge passed down through generations of rich oral tradition. Storytelling has always been alive. Now, digital writing tools powered by AI Anima's language model invite community members to venture into new forms. With AI assistance to help organize thoughts, suggest words, and ease the flow between ideas and the written page, what once took considerable effort becomes more fluid and accessible. Elders can bring personal memories into a new medium. Youth writers can build entire imaginary worlds rooted in their own language and worldview.

Not only will these tools encourage creativity within our community, they will also facilitate translation at scale of beloved published books. Imagine reading your favourite novel in Cree!

As a professional songwriter, pianist, and producer, I have thought hard about what AI means for music. A lot of AI-generated music is polished but feels hollow. But I believe that when a real artist is driving the process, it's not necessarily the case. As the founder of AI Anima, I am excited about the possibility of dramatically more Cree songs entering the world, reaching new listeners, and making the language feel even more alive in contemporary culture. Songwriters can work with AI tools to draft and refine lyrics in Cree, exploring rhyme, rhythm, and wordplay. Artists who have a melody in their head but no studio access can bring it to life. When a track plays at a graduation, gets featured in a short film, or goes viral on social media, the language is exactly where it belongs. Inside the culture, growing with it.