Hello,

We have some tough news to share: The U.S. government has cut $1.05 million USD in funding for Mozilla Common Voice — our open-source, community-powered project that makes voice technology accessible for everyone.

Language is our connection to culture, history, and identity. When AI only understands dominant voices, it doesn't just create a tech gap — it risks erasing entire communities from our digital future. This funding is crucial to support community-led work building inclusive voice datasets for:

• African American Vernacular English
• Indigenous languages like Anishinaabemowin
• Spanish-English code-switching across North America

Mozilla Common Voice is home to over 300 languages. We remain committed to our mission that technology should serve everyone, not just the powerful few.

That’s why today, your voice donation matters more than ever. Your voice strengthens the open datasets researchers, developers, and communities depend on to build more equitable speech technology.

Your voice matters. No government will tell us otherwise. Your participation shows that public support remains strong — and that inclusive technology deserves to be a priority.

Donate your voice to one of our Common Voice language datasets today. Contributing just five voice clips will take less than one minute.

Mozilla Common Voice is the world’s largest crowdsourced, open-voice dataset where communities preserve and elevate their languages. Already, over 500,000 people globally have donated more than 30,000 hours of speech in 300 languages, powering real-world tools including:

• A secure medical translation tool for Swedish healthcare providers¹
• Legal chatbots supporting land rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo²
• Deepfake detection in the United States³

Mozilla Common Voice fuels a global movement for ethical, inclusive AI.

With your help today, we can make this a turning point and grow Mozilla Common Voice larger than ever. By donating just a few minutes of your voice, you can make a meaningful impact and give everyone the power to fight back against these cuts.

Will you take less than a minute to donate your voice to one of our Common Voice language datasets?

Your voice matters — in more ways than one.

Thanks for everything you do for the internet.

Miguel Morachimo
Program Manager, Common Voice
Mozilla Foundation

More Information:

1. Learn more about this tool by visiting Mabel’s website.

2. Mozilla Foundation: Lifting Up Women Through Land Ownership. 14 December 2023.

3. Mozilla Foundation: Audio Deepfakes Sound Like Trouble — This Company Uses Common Voice To Detect Them. 31 January 2024.