Crowdsource, Crawl, or Generate? Creating SEA-VL, a Multicultural Vision-Language Dataset for Southeast Asia
Samuel Cahyawijaya, Holy Lovenia, Joel Ruben Antony Moniz, Tack Hwa Wong, Mohammad Rifqi Farhansyah, Thant Thiri Maung, Frederikus Hudi, David Anugraha, Muhammad Ravi Shulthan Habibi, Muhammad Reza Qorib, Amit Agarwal, Joseph Marvin Imperial, Hitesh Laxmichand Patel, Vicky Feliren, Bahrul Ilmi Nasution, Manuel Antonio Rufino, Genta Indra Winata, Rian Adam Rajagede, Carlos Rafael Catalan, Mohamed Fazli Mohamed Imam, Priyaranjan Pattnayak, Salsabila Zahirah Pranida, Kevin Pratama, Yeshil Bangera, Adisai Na-Thalang, Patricia Nicole Monderin, Yueqi Song, Christian Simon, Lynnette Hui Xian Ng, Richardy Lobo Sapan, Taki Hasan Rafi, Bin Wang, Supryadi, Kanyakorn Veerakanjana, Piyalitt Ittichaiwong, Matthew Theodore Roque, Karissa Vincentio, Takdanai Kreangphet, Phakphum Artkaew, Kadek Hendrawan Palgunadi, Yanzhi Yu, Rochana Prih Hastuti, William Nixon, Mithil Bangera, Adrian Xuan Wei Lim, Aye Hninn Khine, Hanif Muhammad Zhafran, Teddy Ferdinan, Audra Aurora Izzani, Ayushman Singh, Evan Evan, Jauza Akbar Krito, Michael Anugraha, Fenal Ashokbhai Ilasariya, Haochen Li, John Amadeo Daniswara, Filbert Aurelian Tjiaranata, Eryawan Presma Yulianrifat, Can Udomcharoenchaikit, Fadil Risdian Ansori, Mahardika Krisna Ihsani, Giang Nguyen, Anab Maulana Barik, Dan John Velasco, Rifo Ahmad Genadi, Saptarshi Saha, Chengwei Wei, Isaiah Edri W. Flores, Kenneth Chen Ko Han, Anjela Gail D. Santos, Wan Shen Lim, Kaung Si Phyo, Tim Santos, Meisyarah Dwiastuti, Jiayun Luo, Jan Christian Blaise Cruz, Ming Shan Hee, Ikhlasul Akmal Hanif, M.Alif Al Hakim, Muhammad Rizky Sya’ban, Kun Kerdthaisong, Lester James Validad Miranda, Fajri Koto, Tirana Noor Fatyanosa, Alham Fikri Aji, Jostin Jerico Rosal, Jun Kevin, Robert Wijaya, Onno P. Kampman, Ruochen Zhang, Börje F. Karlsson, Peerat Limkonchotiwat
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Abstract
Despite Southeast Asia’s (SEA) extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity, the region remains significantly underrepresented in vision-language (VL) research, resulting in AI models that inadequately capture SEA cultural nuances. To fill this gap, we present SEA-VL, an open-source initiative dedicated to developing culturally relevant high-quality datasets for SEA languages. By involving contributors from SEA countries, SEA-VL ensures better cultural relevance and diversity, fostering greater inclusivity of underrepresented languages and cultural depictions in VL research. Our methodology employed three approaches: community-driven crowdsourcing with SEA contributors, automated image crawling, and synthetic image generation. We evaluated each method’s effectiveness in capturing cultural relevance. We found that image crawling achieves approximately ~85% cultural relevance while being more cost- and time-efficient than crowdsourcing, whereas synthetic image generation failed to accurately reflect SEA cultural nuances and contexts. Collectively, we gathered 1.28 million SEA culturally relevant images, more than 50 times larger than other existing datasets. This work bridges the representation gap in SEA, establishes a foundation for developing culturally aware AI systems for this region, and provides a replicable framework for addressing representation gaps in other underrepresented regions.- Anthology ID:
- 2025.acl-long.916
- Volume:
- Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers)
- Month:
- July
- Year:
- 2025
- Address:
- Vienna, Austria
- Editors:
- Wanxiang Che, Joyce Nabende, Ekaterina Shutova, Mohammad Taher Pilehvar
- Venue:
- ACL
- SIG:
- Publisher:
- Association for Computational Linguistics
- Note:
- Pages:
- 18685–18717
- Language:
- URL:
- https://aclanthology.org/2025.acl-long.916/
- DOI:
- 10.18653/v1/2025.acl-long.916
- Bibkey:
- Cite (ACL):
- Samuel Cahyawijaya, Holy Lovenia, Joel Ruben Antony Moniz, Tack Hwa Wong, Mohammad Rifqi Farhansyah, Thant Thiri Maung, Frederikus Hudi, David Anugraha, Muhammad Ravi Shulthan Habibi, Muhammad Reza Qorib, Amit Agarwal, Joseph Marvin Imperial, Hitesh Laxmichand Patel, Vicky Feliren, Bahrul Ilmi Nasution, Manuel Antonio Rufino, Genta Indra Winata, Rian Adam Rajagede, Carlos Rafael Catalan, Mohamed Fazli Mohamed Imam, Priyaranjan Pattnayak, Salsabila Zahirah Pranida, Kevin Pratama, Yeshil Bangera, Adisai Na-Thalang, Patricia Nicole Monderin, Yueqi Song, Christian Simon, Lynnette Hui Xian Ng, Richardy Lobo Sapan, Taki Hasan Rafi, Bin Wang, Supryadi, Kanyakorn Veerakanjana, Piyalitt Ittichaiwong, Matthew Theodore Roque, Karissa Vincentio, Takdanai Kreangphet, Phakphum Artkaew, Kadek Hendrawan Palgunadi, Yanzhi Yu, Rochana Prih Hastuti, William Nixon, Mithil Bangera, Adrian Xuan Wei Lim, Aye Hninn Khine, Hanif Muhammad Zhafran, Teddy Ferdinan, Audra Aurora Izzani, Ayushman Singh, Evan Evan, Jauza Akbar Krito, Michael Anugraha, Fenal Ashokbhai Ilasariya, Haochen Li, John Amadeo Daniswara, Filbert Aurelian Tjiaranata, Eryawan Presma Yulianrifat, Can Udomcharoenchaikit, Fadil Risdian Ansori, Mahardika Krisna Ihsani, Giang Nguyen, Anab Maulana Barik, Dan John Velasco, Rifo Ahmad Genadi, Saptarshi Saha, Chengwei Wei, Isaiah Edri W. Flores, Kenneth Chen Ko Han, Anjela Gail D. Santos, Wan Shen Lim, Kaung Si Phyo, Tim Santos, Meisyarah Dwiastuti, Jiayun Luo, Jan Christian Blaise Cruz, Ming Shan Hee, Ikhlasul Akmal Hanif, M.Alif Al Hakim, Muhammad Rizky Sya’ban, Kun Kerdthaisong, Lester James Validad Miranda, Fajri Koto, Tirana Noor Fatyanosa, Alham Fikri Aji, Jostin Jerico Rosal, Jun Kevin, Robert Wijaya, Onno P. Kampman, Ruochen Zhang, Börje F. Karlsson, and Peerat Limkonchotiwat. 2025. Crowdsource, Crawl, or Generate? Creating SEA-VL, a Multicultural Vision-Language Dataset for Southeast Asia. In Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers), pages 18685–18717, Vienna, Austria. Association for Computational Linguistics.
- Cite (Informal):
- Crowdsource, Crawl, or Generate? Creating SEA-VL, a Multicultural Vision-Language Dataset for Southeast Asia (Cahyawijaya et al., ACL 2025)
- Copy Citation:
- PDF:
- https://aclanthology.org/2025.acl-long.916.pdf
Export citation
@inproceedings{cahyawijaya-etal-2025-crowdsource,
title = "Crowdsource, Crawl, or Generate? Creating {SEA}-{VL}, a Multicultural Vision-Language Dataset for {S}outheast {A}sia",
author = {Cahyawijaya, Samuel and
Lovenia, Holy and
Moniz, Joel Ruben Antony and
Wong, Tack Hwa and
Farhansyah, Mohammad Rifqi and
Maung, Thant Thiri and
Hudi, Frederikus and
Anugraha, David and
Habibi, Muhammad Ravi Shulthan and
Qorib, Muhammad Reza and
Agarwal, Amit and
Imperial, Joseph Marvin and
Patel, Hitesh Laxmichand and
Feliren, Vicky and
Nasution, Bahrul Ilmi and
Rufino, Manuel Antonio and
Winata, Genta Indra and
Rajagede, Rian Adam and
Catalan, Carlos Rafael and
Imam, Mohamed Fazli Mohamed and
Pattnayak, Priyaranjan and
Pranida, Salsabila Zahirah and
Pratama, Kevin and
Bangera, Yeshil and
Na-Thalang, Adisai and
Monderin, Patricia Nicole and
Song, Yueqi and
Simon, Christian and
Ng, Lynnette Hui Xian and
Sapan, Richardy Lobo and
Rafi, Taki Hasan and
Wang, Bin and
Supryadi and
Veerakanjana, Kanyakorn and
Ittichaiwong, Piyalitt and
Roque, Matthew Theodore and
Vincentio, Karissa and
Kreangphet, Takdanai and
Artkaew, Phakphum and
Palgunadi, Kadek Hendrawan and
Yu, Yanzhi and
Hastuti, Rochana Prih and
Nixon, William and
Bangera, Mithil and
Lim, Adrian Xuan Wei and
Khine, Aye Hninn and
Zhafran, Hanif Muhammad and
Ferdinan, Teddy and
Izzani, Audra Aurora and
Singh, Ayushman and
Evan, Evan and
Krito, Jauza Akbar and
Anugraha, Michael and
Ilasariya, Fenal Ashokbhai and
Li, Haochen and
Daniswara, John Amadeo and
Tjiaranata, Filbert Aurelian and
Yulianrifat, Eryawan Presma and
Udomcharoenchaikit, Can and
Ansori, Fadil Risdian and
Ihsani, Mahardika Krisna and
Nguyen, Giang and
Barik, Anab Maulana and
Velasco, Dan John and
Genadi, Rifo Ahmad and
Saha, Saptarshi and
Wei, Chengwei and
Flores, Isaiah Edri W. and
Han, Kenneth Chen Ko and
Santos, Anjela Gail D. and
Lim, Wan Shen and
Phyo, Kaung Si and
Santos, Tim and
Dwiastuti, Meisyarah and
Luo, Jiayun and
Cruz, Jan Christian Blaise and
Hee, Ming Shan and
Hanif, Ikhlasul Akmal and
Hakim, M.Alif Al and
Sya{'}ban, Muhammad Rizky and
Kerdthaisong, Kun and
Miranda, Lester James Validad and
Koto, Fajri and
Fatyanosa, Tirana Noor and
Aji, Alham Fikri and
Rosal, Jostin Jerico and
Kevin, Jun and
Wijaya, Robert and
Kampman, Onno P. and
Zhang, Ruochen and
Karlsson, B{\"o}rje F. and
Limkonchotiwat, Peerat},
editor = "Che, Wanxiang and
Nabende, Joyce and
Shutova, Ekaterina and
Pilehvar, Mohammad Taher",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers)",
month = jul,
year = "2025",
address = "Vienna, Austria",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2025.acl-long.916/",
doi = "10.18653/v1/2025.acl-long.916",
pages = "18685--18717",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-251-0",
abstract = "Despite Southeast Asia{'}s (SEA) extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity, the region remains significantly underrepresented in vision-language (VL) research, resulting in AI models that inadequately capture SEA cultural nuances. To fill this gap, we present SEA-VL, an open-source initiative dedicated to developing culturally relevant high-quality datasets for SEA languages. By involving contributors from SEA countries, SEA-VL ensures better cultural relevance and diversity, fostering greater inclusivity of underrepresented languages and cultural depictions in VL research. Our methodology employed three approaches: community-driven crowdsourcing with SEA contributors, automated image crawling, and synthetic image generation. We evaluated each method{'}s effectiveness in capturing cultural relevance. We found that image crawling achieves approximately {\textasciitilde}85{\%} cultural relevance while being more cost- and time-efficient than crowdsourcing, whereas synthetic image generation failed to accurately reflect SEA cultural nuances and contexts. Collectively, we gathered 1.28 million SEA culturally relevant images, more than 50 times larger than other existing datasets. This work bridges the representation gap in SEA, establishes a foundation for developing culturally aware AI systems for this region, and provides a replicable framework for addressing representation gaps in other underrepresented regions."
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<abstract>Despite Southeast Asia’s (SEA) extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity, the region remains significantly underrepresented in vision-language (VL) research, resulting in AI models that inadequately capture SEA cultural nuances. To fill this gap, we present SEA-VL, an open-source initiative dedicated to developing culturally relevant high-quality datasets for SEA languages. By involving contributors from SEA countries, SEA-VL ensures better cultural relevance and diversity, fostering greater inclusivity of underrepresented languages and cultural depictions in VL research. Our methodology employed three approaches: community-driven crowdsourcing with SEA contributors, automated image crawling, and synthetic image generation. We evaluated each method’s effectiveness in capturing cultural relevance. We found that image crawling achieves approximately ~85% cultural relevance while being more cost- and time-efficient than crowdsourcing, whereas synthetic image generation failed to accurately reflect SEA cultural nuances and contexts. Collectively, we gathered 1.28 million SEA culturally relevant images, more than 50 times larger than other existing datasets. This work bridges the representation gap in SEA, establishes a foundation for developing culturally aware AI systems for this region, and provides a replicable framework for addressing representation gaps in other underrepresented regions.</abstract>
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%0 Conference Proceedings %T Crowdsource, Crawl, or Generate? Creating SEA-VL, a Multicultural Vision-Language Dataset for Southeast Asia %A Cahyawijaya, Samuel %A Lovenia, Holy %A Moniz, Joel Ruben Antony %A Wong, Tack Hwa %A Farhansyah, Mohammad Rifqi %A Maung, Thant Thiri %A Hudi, Frederikus %A Anugraha, David %A Habibi, Muhammad Ravi Shulthan %A Qorib, Muhammad Reza %A Agarwal, Amit %A Imperial, Joseph Marvin %A Patel, Hitesh Laxmichand %A Feliren, Vicky %A Nasution, Bahrul Ilmi %A Rufino, Manuel Antonio %A Winata, Genta Indra %A Rajagede, Rian Adam %A Catalan, Carlos Rafael %A Imam, Mohamed Fazli Mohamed %A Pattnayak, Priyaranjan %A Pranida, Salsabila Zahirah %A Pratama, Kevin %A Bangera, Yeshil %A Na-Thalang, Adisai %A Monderin, Patricia Nicole %A Song, Yueqi %A Simon, Christian %A Ng, Lynnette Hui Xian %A Sapan, Richardy Lobo %A Rafi, Taki Hasan %A Wang, Bin %A Veerakanjana, Kanyakorn %A Ittichaiwong, Piyalitt %A Roque, Matthew Theodore %A Vincentio, Karissa %A Kreangphet, Takdanai %A Artkaew, Phakphum %A Palgunadi, Kadek Hendrawan %A Yu, Yanzhi %A Hastuti, Rochana Prih %A Nixon, William %A Bangera, Mithil %A Lim, Adrian Xuan Wei %A Khine, Aye Hninn %A Zhafran, Hanif Muhammad %A Ferdinan, Teddy %A Izzani, Audra Aurora %A Singh, Ayushman %A Evan, Evan %A Krito, Jauza Akbar %A Anugraha, Michael %A Ilasariya, Fenal Ashokbhai %A Li, Haochen %A Daniswara, John Amadeo %A Tjiaranata, Filbert Aurelian %A Yulianrifat, Eryawan Presma %A Udomcharoenchaikit, Can %A Ansori, Fadil Risdian %A Ihsani, Mahardika Krisna %A Nguyen, Giang %A Barik, Anab Maulana %A Velasco, Dan John %A Genadi, Rifo Ahmad %A Saha, Saptarshi %A Wei, Chengwei %A Flores, Isaiah Edri W. %A Han, Kenneth Chen Ko %A Santos, Anjela Gail D. %A Lim, Wan Shen %A Phyo, Kaung Si %A Santos, Tim %A Dwiastuti, Meisyarah %A Luo, Jiayun %A Cruz, Jan Christian Blaise %A Hee, Ming Shan %A Hanif, Ikhlasul Akmal %A Hakim, M.Alif Al %A Sya’ban, Muhammad Rizky %A Kerdthaisong, Kun %A Miranda, Lester James Validad %A Koto, Fajri %A Fatyanosa, Tirana Noor %A Aji, Alham Fikri %A Rosal, Jostin Jerico %A Kevin, Jun %A Wijaya, Robert %A Kampman, Onno P. %A Zhang, Ruochen %A Karlsson, Börje F. %A Limkonchotiwat, Peerat %Y Che, Wanxiang %Y Nabende, Joyce %Y Shutova, Ekaterina %Y Pilehvar, Mohammad Taher %A Supryadi %S Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers) %D 2025 %8 July %I Association for Computational Linguistics %C Vienna, Austria %@ 979-8-89176-251-0 %F cahyawijaya-etal-2025-crowdsource %X Despite Southeast Asia’s (SEA) extraordinary linguistic and cultural diversity, the region remains significantly underrepresented in vision-language (VL) research, resulting in AI models that inadequately capture SEA cultural nuances. To fill this gap, we present SEA-VL, an open-source initiative dedicated to developing culturally relevant high-quality datasets for SEA languages. By involving contributors from SEA countries, SEA-VL ensures better cultural relevance and diversity, fostering greater inclusivity of underrepresented languages and cultural depictions in VL research. Our methodology employed three approaches: community-driven crowdsourcing with SEA contributors, automated image crawling, and synthetic image generation. We evaluated each method’s effectiveness in capturing cultural relevance. We found that image crawling achieves approximately ~85% cultural relevance while being more cost- and time-efficient than crowdsourcing, whereas synthetic image generation failed to accurately reflect SEA cultural nuances and contexts. Collectively, we gathered 1.28 million SEA culturally relevant images, more than 50 times larger than other existing datasets. This work bridges the representation gap in SEA, establishes a foundation for developing culturally aware AI systems for this region, and provides a replicable framework for addressing representation gaps in other underrepresented regions. %R 10.18653/v1/2025.acl-long.916 %U https://aclanthology.org/2025.acl-long.916/ %U https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2025.acl-long.916 %P 18685-18717
Markdown (Informal)
[Crowdsource, Crawl, or Generate? Creating SEA-VL, a Multicultural Vision-Language Dataset for Southeast Asia](https://aclanthology.org/2025.acl-long.916/) (Cahyawijaya et al., ACL 2025)
- Crowdsource, Crawl, or Generate? Creating SEA-VL, a Multicultural Vision-Language Dataset for Southeast Asia (Cahyawijaya et al., ACL 2025)
ACL
- Samuel Cahyawijaya, Holy Lovenia, Joel Ruben Antony Moniz, Tack Hwa Wong, Mohammad Rifqi Farhansyah, Thant Thiri Maung, Frederikus Hudi, David Anugraha, Muhammad Ravi Shulthan Habibi, Muhammad Reza Qorib, Amit Agarwal, Joseph Marvin Imperial, Hitesh Laxmichand Patel, Vicky Feliren, Bahrul Ilmi Nasution, Manuel Antonio Rufino, Genta Indra Winata, Rian Adam Rajagede, Carlos Rafael Catalan, Mohamed Fazli Mohamed Imam, Priyaranjan Pattnayak, Salsabila Zahirah Pranida, Kevin Pratama, Yeshil Bangera, Adisai Na-Thalang, Patricia Nicole Monderin, Yueqi Song, Christian Simon, Lynnette Hui Xian Ng, Richardy Lobo Sapan, Taki Hasan Rafi, Bin Wang, Supryadi, Kanyakorn Veerakanjana, Piyalitt Ittichaiwong, Matthew Theodore Roque, Karissa Vincentio, Takdanai Kreangphet, Phakphum Artkaew, Kadek Hendrawan Palgunadi, Yanzhi Yu, Rochana Prih Hastuti, William Nixon, Mithil Bangera, Adrian Xuan Wei Lim, Aye Hninn Khine, Hanif Muhammad Zhafran, Teddy Ferdinan, Audra Aurora Izzani, Ayushman Singh, Evan Evan, Jauza Akbar Krito, Michael Anugraha, Fenal Ashokbhai Ilasariya, Haochen Li, John Amadeo Daniswara, Filbert Aurelian Tjiaranata, Eryawan Presma Yulianrifat, Can Udomcharoenchaikit, Fadil Risdian Ansori, Mahardika Krisna Ihsani, Giang Nguyen, Anab Maulana Barik, Dan John Velasco, Rifo Ahmad Genadi, Saptarshi Saha, Chengwei Wei, Isaiah Edri W. Flores, Kenneth Chen Ko Han, Anjela Gail D. Santos, Wan Shen Lim, Kaung Si Phyo, Tim Santos, Meisyarah Dwiastuti, Jiayun Luo, Jan Christian Blaise Cruz, Ming Shan Hee, Ikhlasul Akmal Hanif, M.Alif Al Hakim, Muhammad Rizky Sya’ban, Kun Kerdthaisong, Lester James Validad Miranda, Fajri Koto, Tirana Noor Fatyanosa, Alham Fikri Aji, Jostin Jerico Rosal, Jun Kevin, Robert Wijaya, Onno P. Kampman, Ruochen Zhang, Börje F. Karlsson, and Peerat Limkonchotiwat. 2025. Crowdsource, Crawl, or Generate? Creating SEA-VL, a Multicultural Vision-Language Dataset for Southeast Asia. In Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers), pages 18685–18717, Vienna, Austria. Association for Computational Linguistics.