Latest news with #AITranslation
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Timekettle Charts Path from L3 to L4 in Real-Time Translation
HONG KONG, May 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Timekettle, a global leader in AI-powered translation technology, exhibits at the 11th Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum (APTIF 11), held in Hong Kong under the theme "Culture, Connectivity and Technology: Translating Communities, Transforming Perspectives." Wilber Wu, Head of Marketing at Timekettle, delivered a speech titled "The Journey of Timekettle: Breaking Language Barriers with Technology", presenting the company's vision and innovation roadmap in real-time AI translation at the event's sub-forum. From Ambition to Innovation Founded in 2016 in Shenzhen, Timekettle has grown from a startup into a global player in AI translation solutions. With operating centers in both China and the United States, the company pioneered Babel OS — the world's first simultaneous AI interpretation system — and developed award-winning hardwares like the W4 Pro AI Interpreter Earbuds and the X1 AI Interpreter Hub. Timekettle's products have served more than 1.5 million users in over 170 countries. Yet as Wu emphasized, Timekettle's true identity lies not in hardware, but in its relentless pursuit of technological evolution — to make real-time multilingual communication as natural and seamless as speaking one's native tongue. The Challenge in Real-Time Translation Wu acknowledged that language remains one of the most persistent barriers in global communication. "Real-time translation is deceptively complex," he noted. "It's not just about translating words, but delivering speech fast, fluently, and with cultural awareness — all without disrupting natural conversation." In use cases such as international business, multi-language classrooms, or humanitarian aid, even a few seconds of delay or a mistranslated sentence can render the experience ineffective. To solve this, Timekettle has been working on improving three critical dimensions: stability, speed, and accuracy. The L1–L5 Model: A Roadmap Toward Seamless Communication In his speech, Wu introduced a technological evolution framework of real-time translation, inspired by autonomous driving standards. The model outlines Timekettle's vision for the technological progress, not just for the company but for the industry as a whole. L1 – Basic Assistance: Word/phrase translation via rule-based or statistical machine translation. Requires manual input and lacks context. L2 – Context-Aware Translation (human-mimicking): Full-sentence translation with neural machine translation (NMT). Still largely manual and non-conversational. L3 – Real-Time Bi-Directional Translation (near-human): Achieved by Timekettle's W4 Pro, offering bidirectional real-time communication with sub-6-second latency, powered by ASR + NMT + TTS. L4 – High-Accuracy Simultaneous Translation (human-equivalent): This next stage will expect delay under 3 seconds, with 98%+ accuracy, and emotional/cultural nuance using multimodal AI and adaptive LLMs. L5 – Fully Autonomous Translation (beyond human): A near-sentient level of AI that matches or surpasses human interpreters — understanding subtext, emotion, dialects, and delivering zero-latency results. Wu likened this evolution to Timekettle's pursuit of a "Babel Fish" — the mythical translator from science fiction — and noted that the company's Babel OS marks the industry's first leap from L3 toward L4, from functional to human-like translation. Looking Ahead: Multimodal AI and AGI Looking to the future, Wu identified multimodal AI and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) as pivotal to reaching L5. "To truly erase language boundaries, machines must do more than decode words. They must understand gestures, emotions, and cultural subtext — to become communication assistants, not just tools." He outlined Timekettle's current research directions: improving voice recognition in noisy environments, making breakthroughs in text data of certain languages, and enabling machines to better understand cultural nuances and implied meanings in conversations. "Imagine a world," he said, "where translation is so seamless that it becomes invisible; where communication across languages feels as natural as speaking your own. That's the future we're building toward." Bridging Academia and Industry Wu concluded by thanking APTIF for fostering dialogue between the academia and the industry. "Translating technology is not just about algorithms or devices — it's about enabling human connection. As we move from L3 to L4 and beyond, we hope to see researchers and technology professionals join this venture together to make real-time, universal communication a reality." Timekettle's presence at APTIF 11 marks a significant step in aligning cutting-edge AI with the long-standing mission of the translation community - building bridges across cultures through better communication. About Timekettle Since its inception in 2016, Timekettle has been at the forefront of cross-language communication innovation. With award-winning products and a global user base of over one million, Timekettle continues to set new standards in AI translation technology, striving to achieve universal communication freedom. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Timekettle Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CBC
16-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
The Sunday Magazine for May 18, 2025
This week on The Sunday Magazine with Piya Chattopadhyay: What Trump's Middle East tour means for U.S. foreign policy The White House is championing a diplomatic breakthrough with Syria and deepened investment ties in the Gulf region, following U.S. President Donald Trump's state visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this past week. The New York Times White House correspondent Luke Broadwater, who was on the trip, joins Chattopadhyay to break down the visit's implications for U.S. foreign policy. Then, The Economist's Middle East correspondent Gregg Carlstrom explains the broader impact of Trump's visit in the region, especially as Israel's war with Hamas continues to rage in Gaza, and relations between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump reportedly grow sour. Will we still need to learn foreign languages if AI can do the translating? If you're planning a summer vacation abroad and your packing list includes a phrasebook or bilingual dictionary… this might be the last time you need one. Several big tech companies have live translation devices either in the works or already on the market. But tech watchers say they raise larger questions about how AI tools are changing language learning and translation – and what might get lost in the process. WIRED's senior business reporter Louise Matsakis and Muhammad Abdul-Mageed, the Canada Research Chair in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning at the University of British Columbia, join Chattopadhyay to spell it all out. After a week of clashes over talks, is peace any closer in the Russia-Ukraine War? This past week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to join him for face-to-face peace talks in Turkey. The Russian leader didn't show. But delegations from both countries did hold their first direct talks in three years, negotiating a prisoner-of-war exchange. Michael Bociurkiw, a global affairs analyst and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joins Chattopadhyay to make sense of these latest efforts at bringing a diplomatic end to the years-long conflict. Uncovering the stories that paved the Trans-Canada Highway For many Canadians, the May long weekend means the official kick-off of the summer travel season. And if you're out on a road trip, there's a good chance you may end up sailing down the Trans-Canada Highway. Mark Richardson wants us all to know the often overlooked stories that paved this roughly seven-and-a-half thousand kilometre road system. The automotive journalist speaks with Chattopadhyay about the history, people and politics that shaped "Canada's Main Street", as he explores in his book The Drive Across Canada. If you've ever innocently called someone's summer home a "cabin" or "camp" when they prefer to call it a "cottage," you'll know how evocative those descriptors can be. As cabin/camp/cottage season kicks off, linguist Sali Tagliamonte walks us through the cultural, geographic and economic factors that have shaped the language we use when describing Canada's summertime escape hatches.
Forbes
16-05-2025
- Forbes
These Tiny Earphones Translate Between 15 Languages Using AI
Acer AI TransBuds Acer Language translation is one of the more compelling uses for AI and machine learning tech, and Acer has built it into a pair of earphones, the Acer AI TransBuds. Well, sort of. The Acer AI TransBuds look much like a fairly ordinary pair of open ear headphones, one of the most recent design trends in wireless pairs, but they are made for AI-powered 'two-way voice translation.' And the idea is only one person needs to wear the Acer AI TransBuds. That doesn't entirely make sense until you hear these earphones also rely on a wirelessly connected phone or tablet, which can display the 'live captioning and transcription' results, perhaps while the wearer gets an audio translation. It's this connected device that presumably does all of the real work of translation — most likely via cloud compute — as a pair of earphones is unlikely to be able to hold the processing and battery power required for full on-device translation for some time still. The Acer AI TransBuds have tiny 50mAh batteries, and include a charging case just like a regular true wireless pair. They support Bluetooth 5.4 and have an ear hook design, which is necessary because the actual bud parts don't have an IEM-style tip or even the classic style of earbud designed to rest behind the ear's tragus. That's deliberate, to stop them from blocking you hearing what the other person is saying, even if you can't understand them. Acer says the AI TransBuds support 15 languages at present. And while these are not specified, they are described as 'major languages spoken across Asia, the Americas, and Europe.' The Acer AI TransBuds are not quite as revolutionary as they may seem from a one-sentence description, but it is refreshing to see a household name take on what is still quite a niche area of tech. They might be compared to the Vasco Translator E1 earbuds or the Timekettle M3 Translation Earbuds. All three pairs operate using the same concept, pairing to a smartphone app in order to provide translation. This also means the real worth of the Acer AI TransBuds is in the part Acer has talked little about so far, the software. Acer also has not yet revealed when the AI TransBuds are planned for a release, or where they will be marketed.
Entrepreneur
12-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Breaking Boundaries: How DeepL's New Arabic Tool Aims to Lead AI Translation for MENA Businesses
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur Middle East, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. In January 2025, Germany-headquartered artificial intelligence (AI)-powered translation service provider DeepL revealed a study showing that 84% of professionals in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have integrated AI translation tools into their workflows. Now, put this statistic in the context of both nations' global economic milestones -which require efficient cross-border business communications and market access- and it immediately holds added value: in 2024, the UAE's total foreign trade stood at US$1.424 trillion (AED5.23 trillion), up 49% compared to its 2021 performance; while the Kingdom's non-oil exports alone in 2024 reached $137.3 billion (SAR515 billion), marking a 13% increase from 2023. As the Chief Revenue Officer at DeepL, David Parry-Jones has been able to closely observe the growing necessity for accurate translation tools. "In this recent study conducted to understand the increasing integration of AI-driven language technologies within organizations, we also found that 46% of professionals in the UAE and KSA reported that AI translation tools have helped them expand their business into new markets," he shares. "Additionally, our findings revealed that AI-driven tools are mostly applied to developing new language skills (UAE: 52%; KSA: 51%), boosting efficiency and saving time (UAE: 50%; KSA: 51%), and managing supplier relationships (UAE: 45%; KSA: 47%)." These, of course, are just two nations in a region that comprises over 20 Arabic-speaking countries. "Arabic is the fifth most spoken language globally and has long been one of the most requested by our users," Parry-Jones says. "The language is spoken in over 22 countries and plays an important role in global communication. However, its right-to-left script, unique characters, and structural complexity made integration somewhat more challenging. Despite this, we're now pleased to be unveiling document translation, joining our in-app and desktop translation solutions." Indeed, DeepL's Arabic Document Translation tool -launched officially on April 30, 2025- has been designed to simplify document translation for businesses and professionals that engage with Arabic-speaking markets across MENA. "Launching Arabic within the DeepL platform was a powerful step towards breaking down language barriers and connecting the world!" Parry-Jones adds. "We believe that Language AI is one of the most strategic investments a business can make. Some of the sectors that benefit the most from Language AI are retail, manufacturing and legal, where high quality and accurate translation is vital. In retail, it increases efficiency by developing multilingual marketing assets and customer service tools, translating internal systems, and enabling seamless international expansion. In the legal sector, AI translation services help international law firms overcome language barriers. Additionally, in manufacturing, AI translation allows global manufacturing facilities to ease their supply chain and distribution with accurate translation of customs documents, product descriptions and local regulations." Image source: DeepL Now, anyone with the slightest of linguistic interests would know that there are plenty of existing Arabic translation services already available. But the dire inaccuracies provided by these platforms have also been well documented in recent years. When DeepL's Arabic Document Translation Tool was announced in late April, it claimed to outperform GPT-4, Google, and Microsoft in translation quality– something Parry-Jones assures isn't an empty promise. "DeepL outperforms these models because our language model is purpose-built for translation, using proprietary training data collected over seven years," he explains. "Unlike general-purpose models like GPT-4, DeepL is tuned specifically for linguistic accuracy. In blind tests with language experts, DeepL's translations were preferred 1.3x more than Google's, 1.7x more than GPT-4's, and 2.3x more than Microsoft's. The model also requires significantly fewer edits, with Google needing twice as many, and GPT-4 three times more, to reach the same quality. We also rely on the expertise of thousands of hand-picked language specialists who "tutor" the model, resulting in best-in-class translation." DeepL's decision to integrate the expertise of human translators has been pivotal in ensuring that the AI-powered machine translation platform incorporates the plethora of regional dialects within the Arabic language– a move that has, again, helped in outperforming its competitors. "Our expert team of translators are involved in many stages of our research and development (R&D) process, from building models for a new language to improving existing ones," Parry-Jones continues. "By incorporating a human element in the initial phases of our research, we avoid the risk of our translations sounding robotic and help ensure that our translations pick up cultural nuances. This also applies during the evaluation stage; while synthetic evaluations deliver quick results, the ground truth is to ask those that have invented and mastered the use of language to provide feedback on translations - how accurate they are, how nuanced, how native the language feels. Only we humans can judge on that. To this day, some of our earliest adopters and users are translators. We have recently introduced a new product called Clarify that helps customers clear up ambiguities by suggesting alternatives and asking context-specific questions, ensuring translations capture the right meaning and nuance of what you're trying to say." But within the scope of business data translation comes the mammoth risk of security lapses or information leaks. "Our Pro customers' data is never stored or accessible to third parties!" Parry-Jones reveals. "In case of data breach, DeepL is legally required to notify users within 72 hours, guaranteeing maximum confidentiality for sensitive content like reports, patents, and customer data. As a company based in Germany, DeepL adheres to the GDPR -one of the strictest data protection and privacy laws worldwide- ensuring data remains protected and compliant. Our advanced encryption and adherences to global regulations, including ISO 27001 and GDPR standards, ensures peace of mind and enables confident multilingual communication across borders." Image source: DeepL Offering additional ease to users is the fact that DeepL's Arabic Document Translation Tool prioritizes popular formats such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint as well as PDFS, while maintaining original layouts and fonts. It also allows users to edit their changes directly before downloading, allowing for increased control across supported file types. "We only launch a new language when we are confident that we can offer a better solution than what's already on the market, and that includes Arabic," Parry-Jones adds. This faith in the platform's performance has emanated from DeepL's company culture- and if Parry-Jones words are anything to go by, it is all set to carry the platform towards its future goals too. "Since our inception, we have been a research-driven company and will continue to invest heavily in our development as a company within the next few years to create specialized translation and writing solutions to businesses worldwide," he says. "Combining our depth of research with proprietary data accumulated over seven years, we're able to understand unique business needs and address them with our solutions. With the launch of Arabic document translation in April and with any future products we take to market, we look forward to seeing how Middle Eastern businesses are able to use Language AI to expand their business across borders thanks to seamless communication. Working with businesses in the region, we will continue to learn and iterate the offering to make sure it provides them with the tools they need to expand their business across borders."
