Among the various announcements made during the annual I/O event was the introduction of Live Translation in Google Meet. Releasing to subscribers of its AI Premium plans, users communicating on Meet will have their speech live translated into another language when the feature is turned on. The current languages supported are English and Spanish, with more languages stated to be added soon, though no specifics were mentioned.
While users of Google Meet had to previously rely on caption translation, the new live translation will use an AI audio model to provide near immediate translation. A Youtube video was posted demonstrating the new feature, which showcased how the translation occurs after a brief pause, before speaking over the person’s actual voice in a louder volume.
Yulie Kwon Kim, the VP of Product for Google Workspace referred to the new live translation feature as a “simultaneous interpreter” that is able to capture and mimic a person’s tone, intonation, and emotion. Kim also states that the technology is “very, very close to having a natural and free-flowing conversation.”
As mentioned, support for a wider range of languages will be made available within the following weeks. The live translation feature in Google Meet is currently accessible to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra plans in beta. The company has also reportedly stated that new features will be rolled out to enterprise users later this year as part of an ‘early testing” phase.
(Source: Google Workspace / Youtube, Mashable, Engadget )
Manisha Dharmendra contributed to this article.
