Google rolls out Yorùbá, Hausa language support for AI search features in Nigeria
By Eberechi Obinagwam
Google has expanded language support for its AI Search features, AI Overviews and AI Mode, to include Yorùbá and Hausa.
In a statement, Google said this update allows speakers of both Nigerian languages to utilize AI-powered Search experiences in their mother tongue for quick summaries and conversational exploration.
This expansion is part of a broader effort to make AI more inclusive across the continent, with support now extending to a total of 13 African languages. For Nigerians, this means that existing AI features in Google Search are now accessible to people like the student in Kano asking a question in Hausa, and the trader in Ibadan seeking advice in Yorùbá.
By addressing language barriers, this update ensures that technology reflects the identity and culture of the people it serves. With this expansion, more people can now use AI Mode to ask complex questions in their preferred language, while exploring the web more deeply and naturally through text or voice.
Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communications & Public Affairs manager, West Africa, Google said: “Building a truly global Search goes far beyond translation — it requires a nuanced understanding of local information. With the advanced multimodal and reasoning capabilities of our custom version of Gemini in Search, we’ve made huge strides in language understanding, so our most advanced AI search capabilities are locally relevant and useful in each new language we support. This is about ensuring Nigerians can converse with Search in their mother tongues, making information more helpful for everyone.”
The 13 languages now supported across Africa include Afrikaans, Akan, Amharic, Hausa, Kinyarwanda, Afaan Oromoo, Somali, Sesotho, Kiswahili, Setswana, Wolof, Yorùbá, and isiZulu. These languages were chosen based on the vibrant search activity across the continent, ensuring that our AI experiences reach the communities that need them most.
