Announcing the Launch of SLxAI

Announcing the Launch of SLxAI and Our November Kickoff Meeting

Today, we are excited to formally announce the launch of SLxAI Sign Language x Artificial Intelligence, a global collaborative initiative focused on the responsible development of sign language AI and emerging technologies.

Over the past year, interest in sign language recognition, translation, and avatar technologies has grown rapidly across industry, research, and advocacy communities. At the same time, it has become clear that the field lacks shared coordination, ethical alignment, and inclusive structures to ensure this technology is developed with care, cultural respect, and long term sustainability. SLxAI was created to address that gap.

SLxAI brings together companies, researchers, Deaf led organizations, and technologists from around the world to collaborate on shared challenges and opportunities. Our focus includes ethical frameworks, technical standards, data governance, multilingual inclusion, and the meaningful involvement of native signers in every stage of development. This is not about competition. It is about building a healthier foundation for an entire field.

As part of this launch, we are convening our first global SLxAI kickoff meeting in November. This initial meeting will introduce the vision for SLxAI, outline proposed goals and success metrics, and begin a community driven conversation around governance, priorities, and collaboration models. It will also serve as an opportunity for participants to meet one another and understand the breadth of work already underway across different regions and sign languages.

Participation in SLxAI is intentionally open and collaborative. There are no membership dues at launch, and involvement can take many forms, including technical contributions, policy discussions, research alignment, event planning, or advisory roles. Our aim is to listen first, align thoughtfully, and move forward together.

If you are working in sign language AI, accessibility technology, linguistics, education, or adjacent fields and believe this work should be guided by inclusion, ethics, and global cooperation, we invite you to join us. More details about the November kickoff meeting and next steps will be shared soon.

This is only the beginning, and we look forward to building SLxAI with the community it is meant to serve.

Visit the SLxAI Website: https://www.slxai.org/