Apple, Google and Meta are trying to build a universal translator

For decades, shows like Star Trek and novels like The Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy can introduce fictional universal translators, seamlessly converting any language into English and vice versa.

Today, these gadgets are once limited to science fiction works.

During the iPhone announcement event on Tuesday, apple We have included videos of dream scenarios for many travelers. It showed that English-speaking tourists buy flowers in a Spanish-speaking country without a name. The florist addressed tourists in Spanish, but what tourists heard was clear and in coherent English.

“Today, all red carnations are 50% off,” tourists heard in English in headphones, essentially at the same time that the store clerk was speaking.

This video was Apple’s latest AirPods Pro 3 marketing material, but this feature is one of many of this kind from high-tech companies including Google Parent alphabet and Metacreate Facebook and Instagram.

The technological advancements spurred by the arrival of Openai’s ChatGPT in the second half of 2022 have entered an age of generative artificial intelligence. Almost three years later, these advances have created real-time language translators.

For Apple, live translation is an important selling point for the AirPods Pro 3, announced by the company on Tuesday. The new $250 earphones will be released next week, and live translations will allow users to quickly hear French, German, Portuguese and Spanish translate into English. The live translation will also arrive on Monday as an update for the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2.

And when two people are talking to each other in their AirPods, they can be translated simultaneously in both ways within each user’s headphones. In Apple’s video demo, it appeared that the two were talking to each other in different languages.

According to the Apple Support page, live translations are the first to be unavailable in the European Union. Politico first reported EU restrictions.

Analysts are excited that this feature marks a step further in Apple’s AI strategy. The translation feature must be combined with the new iPhone to run Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI software suite.

“If you can actually use AirPods for live translation, it’s a feature that allows people to actually upgrade,” Da Davidson analyst Gil Luria told CNBC on Wednesday.

Translation has emerged as an important battlefield in the tech industry as AI can get enough of enough to translate languages ​​as quickly as people speak.

But Apple isn’t alone.

Over the past year, Google and Meta have also released hardware products with real-time translation capabilities.

Google’s Pixel 10 phone has the ability to translate what the speaker is saying in the listener’s language while on the phone. This feature, known as Voice Translate, is designed to also retain the audio inflection of the speaker. Voice Translate will begin to appear on people’s phones through software updates on Monday.

At Google’s live demo in August, Voice Translate was able to translate a sentence from entertainer Jimmy Fallon into Spanish, actually sounding like a comedian. Apple’s features do not attempt to mimic the user’s voice.

Meanwhile, Meta in May announces that its Ray-Ban Metaglass can use the device’s speaker to translate what a person is saying in another language, and other parties in the conversation can see the translated response being transcribed to the user’s phone.

Meta will be holding its own product keynote speech on Wednesday. There, the company plans to unveil the next generation of smart glasses. It is unclear whether Meta will announce more translation features.

Openai introduced ChatGPT’s intelligent voice assistant mode, which incorporates fluid translation as one of its many features. ChatGpt is integrated with Apple’s Siri, but is not in audio mode. Openai plans to release a new hardware product with Apple’s former design Guru Jony Ive over the next few years.

The rise of live translation can also reconstruct the entire industry. Translators and interpreters are the number one job threatened by AI, and 98% of translators’ work activities overlap what AI can do, a Microsoft research study published in August discovered.

Over the past few years, many dedicated translation gadgets have entered the market, taking advantage of global high-speed cellular services, improving online translation services, and incorporating pack-like devices or headphones for hundreds of dollars.

“What I like about what Apple is doing is that it reveals the fact that it pushes the issue against,” said Joe Miller, US general manager at Japan-based PockeAlk.

According to Canalys, given Apple’s massive scale and the fact that Apple shipped around 18 million sets of wireless headphones in the first quarter alone, the company’s entry into the market exposes a wider subset of customers to the improvements it has made in recent years.

Despite Apple’s entry into the market, the manufacturer of dedicated devices says that focusing on linguistics accuracy and knowledge will provide better translations than those available for free on new phones.

“We actually hired linguists,” said us and Canadian head Aleksander Alski at Poland-based Vasco Electronics, which releases translated headphones that can mimic the user’s voice, like Google’s features. “We combined AI with human input, which has allowed us to ensure much higher accuracy in every language we provide.”

There are also benefits to home fields. The biggest market for Vasco Electronics is Europe, and Apple’s live translations are not available to EU users, Apple said on its website.

Some of the products introduced by high-tech companies are not universal and are currently limited to a small number of languages. Apple features are available in only five languages ​​for Pockealk’s 95.

PocketAlk’s Miller believes the technology potential is far beyond tourists ordering wine glasses in France. He says it’s the most powerful when used in workplaces such as schools and hospitals that require privacy and security features beyond what Apple or Google offers.

“This is not about luxury sightseeing and travel,” Miller said. “This is about the intersection of language and friction when we need to discuss it.”

Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

Watch: If AirPods’ live translation feature works, it’s an AI breakthrough, says Luria of Da Davidson