THE FUTURE OF LANGUAGE TRANSLATION

Apple’s new AirPods are an example of how artificial intelligence can be used in practical ways to improve lives

- BRIAN X. CHEN

Last week, I saw an old friend and he caught me up on what he'd been up to over the summer. He and his girlfriend had visited family in Arizona. His niece dragged him to a screening of Lilo And Stitch. He was working hard at a new startup. He said all of this in Spanish, a language I have never learned, but I followed every word.

I understood him because I was wearing the new Apple earbuds which arrived in stores on Friday. The US$250 (8,000 baht) AirPods Pro 3 use artificial intelligence to do real-time translations, their most significant new feature. (The earphones, which have slightly better noise cancellation, are otherwise not that different from the last iteration.) As my friend spoke, Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri, acted as an interpreter, speaking in a robotic voice that immediately converted the Spanish words into English in my ears.

Later, I reviewed a transcript of the conversation produced on my iPhone to confirm the accuracy of the translation. With the exception of a few mistakes where Siri mixed up pronouns (referring to my friend’s girlfriend as a he instead of a she), it was solid.

I was impressed. This was the strongest example I had seen of AI technology working in a seamless, practical way that could be beneficial for lots of people. Children of immigrants who prefer to speak their native tongue may have an easier time communicating. Travellers visiting foreign countries may better understand cabdrivers, hotel staff and airline employees.

It would also help me in my day-to-day life with understanding a contractor or pest control employee who doesn’t speak English and is trying to explain what he found under my house.