i3 - September/October 2018 - 43

By Jim Harris

Business

T EC H TACT I C S

AI Enables Real-Time Translation
Star Trek's science fiction has become reality

oogle recently unveiled Duplex, an artificial intelligence
(AI) assistant at its developer conference. As your personal assistant, Duplex can call to book a hair appointment or make a restaurant reservation. The people on the other
end of the phone won't even realize that they're talking to an AI.

Duplex uses AI, machine learning, cloud
computing and bandwidth - all of which
are exponentially improving technologies
that also enable real-time translation.

Courtesy of Bragi

The Era of Real-Time Translation

Universal real-time translation has
always fascinated humanity thanks to its
use in fictional stories like Star Trek and
Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers Guide to the
Galaxy (with the Babel fish). But it's no
longer science fiction.
At CES 2018, I tested several hardware
devices offering real-time translation
including the Mars earbuds, which was a
CES 2018 Best of Innovation Honoree in
the headphones category. Mars' promo
video shows a date with people communicating in two languages.
Other companies with translating
earbuds include Waverly Labs Pilot,
Mymanu Clik+, Google Pixel Buds,
Bragi Dash Pro, while Ili and the Travis
Translator are handheld
devices. With Google Translate
you can now use your smartphone and an internet connection to perform two-way,
real-time translation from
English into 32 languages without spending hundreds of dollars on hardware.
But if you're sitting in an auditorium listening to a speaker in a
foreign language, having translation earbuds is much more practical than using your phone's
speaker and disturbing others.
Some of these hardware vendors are at a disadvantage,
however, because the Google
C TA . t e c h / i 3

Translate app has been downloaded
half a billion times, potentially turning
away billions of smartphone users who
already can access two-way, real-time
language translation devices.
This technology highlights how Moore's
Law - the idea that CPU power doubles
every 18 months while staying at the same
price point - has resulted in a smart-

TRANSLATING EARBUDS
● Mars Earbuds by Naver and Line
using Naver's Papago

● Waverly Labs Pilot
● Mymanu Clik+
● Google Pixel buds
● Bragi Dash Pro
● ili
● Travis the Translator
● iTranslate application for iPhones

phone having the same power as a $30
million 1982 Cray supercomputer, despite
costing $1,000 and being pocket sized.
While none of these products offer
perfect translation now, with the rapid
advance in the underlying enabling
technologies, it's only a matter of a few
years until they'll be better than
human translators.

Try It Out

Once you download the Google
Translate app, it is incredibly easy to
use. When you open it, select the "conversation" option (with the two-microphone icon) and choose your language,
then the language you'd like to translate
into and speak into your phone's microphone. Maybe you're exploring Paris and
ask, "Which way is the Eiffel Tower?"
Out of your speaker will come the translation of the phrase in French.
When you use this technology for the
first time, I promise you will be amazed.

Implications

This is particularly beneficial for the
global tourism industry, enabling tourists to interact easily with locals.
Tourism is a $2.3 trillion global industry with 1.2 billion travelers. It will certainly spell trouble for publishers of
foreign phrase books.
It will also have implications
for professional translators.
Globally the language services
industry is a $45 billion market
and it will ultimately be disrupted. Of course, translation in
high stakes situations - closing
business deals, court cases, or
ambassadors debating at the
United Nations - will still use
professional translators, but in
areas that aren't high stakes,
these tools will proliferate.
Jim Harris is the author of
Blindsided. Follow him on Twitter
@JimHarris
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

http://www.CTA.tech

i3 - September/October 2018

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