GoSign.AI: From Preservation to Innovation
- Ryan Hait-Campbell
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Over a decade ago, I founded DeafTV with one core belief—that our language deserves to be preserved, honored, and embraced. George Veditz once said, “"As long as we have deaf people on earth we will have signs, and as long as we have our films we can preserve our beautiful sign language in its original purity.” That quote stays with me. It has driven every decision I have made while building DeafTV into a platform that documented Deaf voices, culture, and expression across ten impactful years.
Today, I carry that same purpose into a new chapter as the Chief Executive Officer of GoSign.AI.
My involvement in sign language recognition (SLR) began well before AI made headlines. For over a decade, I’ve worked with researchers, engineers, and Deaf leaders to ensure that emerging technologies do not erase our language, but instead reflect it with accuracy and respect. Now, that mission is evolving with scale, urgency, and possibility.
At GoSign.AI, we are building something powerful: the world’s most comprehensive and ethically sourced sign language datasets for AI model training. But this is not just about data. It’s about visibility. It’s about Deaf leadership within AI. It’s about making sure that every layer of communication technology includes us, the Deaf community, from the start.
With co-founders Jeff Shaul and Ryan Hait-Campbell, GoSign.AI has always centered around community, ethics, and technical excellence. As CEO, I’ll be leading our efforts to expand globally, collaborating with researchers and developers across languages, and creating tools that make communication accessible to all without compromising cultural integrity.
And we’re not just building for function—we’re building for joy. From gamified data collection to playful avatar interactions, we’re making sign language technology fun, accessible, and empowering for everyone.
Veditz used film to capture language before it could disappear. Today, we’re using AI to ensure it thrives.
This is more than a company. It’s the continuation of a legacy, which is the one that began with film reels in the early 1900s and now moves into real-time translation, avatars, and global accessibility. We’re not just preserving sign language. We’re giving people their voice, and eliminating communication barriers.
Join us on this journey.
— Travis Dougherty
Chief Executive Officer, GoSign.AI