Google demos live transcription and translation based on AI

Google recently held a press event to show off a number of AI innovations, including a new tool to simultaneously translate and transcribe speech in real time.

As CNet wrote, Google also demoed the feature, which is planned for future release through the Translate app and is currently being tested in a number of languages, like English, Spanish, German, and French. The feature will use AI for speed and accuracy, and the processing will presumably require an internet connection to access Google servers instead of being handled locally.

Both machine translation and transcription are incredibly difficult tasks, so to do both at once with any level of accuracy is very impressive. If any company has the resources for it, though, that would be Google, given the company’s advances in both of these fields.

Recently, Google Translate has received a number of updates to cement its place as the best machine translation software, including the ability to translate a conversation in two languages, acting as an interpreter in both directions. The Google Pixel 4 also launched with cutting-edge, AI-based transcription software, though that was powered locally and is only available in English thus far.

The exact timeline for the feature, as well as the expected rollout for various languages, is yet unknown, but more details should be made available soon, before official release. If delivered as promised, Google’s new language tools may prove to be a gamechanger.