Found in Translation

I'm constantly energized by the rapid pace of innovation. The recent release of Google Meet’s live translation feature is a particularly noteworthy example. It's not just a feature; it's a profound milestone that closes a remarkable 75-year loop in the history of Artificial Intelligence.

Cast your mind back to the late 1940s when the world was emerging from the shadows of World War II. Visionaries, spurred by the nascent power of computing, began to ponder the very concept of "thinking machines." Though the term "Artificial Intelligence" wouldn't be formally coined until 1956 at the seminal Dartmouth Conference, a core ambition from these earliest days was clear: machine translation.

The Cold War era heightened the urgency. Early AI pioneers poured their efforts into this challenge with the dream of breaking down linguistic walls with technology. For decades, the foundational pursuit of real-time, seamless translation has remained a persistent aim for AI researchers, and a persistent theme for science fiction writers. My favorite is from the novel, ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ which features something called a ‘Babel Fish’. As I recall, this was a tiny yellow fish that when placed into the ear of a galactic traveler, would enable them to understand any language spoken throughout the universe.

Today, with Google Meet's new live translation feature, we are witnessing the realization of a decades-long ambition, and with no fish required! What began as a strategic imperative for a handful of researchers using room-sized computers has now democratized global communication, making it accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

There are so many mind-blowing things that AI has achieved in recent years (and recent days), including passing the legal bar exam, surpassing human doctors in medical exams, and safely guiding driverless taxis. But there’s something about the ability to allow two people to speak to each other in their native languages that feels truly special. You can watch a short clip here that I think says it all.

As a global AI-enabled software company, @Nuix is actively engaging with similar advanced AI tools to let us communicate more effectively with our geographically diverse range of customers and partners, and integrated seamlessly normalize, interpret and prioritize data regardless of language. How is your organization handling it's multi-lingual data challenges?

P. S. At this rate, it seems that science fiction may soon be history.