Latest news with #YulieKwonKim
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Whoa: Google Meet can now translate a foreign language in real-time
You already know Google Translate, but what about live voice translation in Google Meet? This feature is one of the major Workspace announcements Google shared at its annual I/O event on Tuesday. Starting today, Google is rolling out real-time speech translation in Google Meet for subscribers of its AI Premium plan. When a user on a Google Meet video call turns on this feature, an AI audio model uses their speech to live translate what they're saying into another language. Google is starting with English and Spanish, with more languages coming in the next few weeks. SEE ALSO: Here's everything AI coming to Google Gmail The experience results in the person's actual voice being heard at a low volume, with the translated voice heard at a regular volume. Demos of speech translation show a brief moment of latency before the live translation begins. "Think simultaneous interpreter, or someone who listens to a speaker while concurrently saying the words in another language," said Yulie Kwon Kim, VP of Product for Google Workspace in a pre-event briefing, "and then take it to the next level, where the interpreter is not another person's voice, but the speaker's own voice." Kwon Kim highlighted how the underlying technology is trained to capture "the speaker's tone, intonation and emotion in the translated language," resulting in a free-flowing conversation with someone in a different language. If you've ever relied on Google Translate or another translating app to communicate with a cab driver in a foreign country or to order off a menu in a different language, you probably understand the game-changing usefulness of live translation. Google used the example of talking to an Airbnb host about an upcoming trip, but one could also imagine talking to relatives or conducting research with people who speak a different language. Of course, there's a little bit of sadness associated with the premise that we might never need to learn new languages if technology like this becomes more widespread. But it has undeniable potential for communicating important information in a pinch. Speech translation in Google Meet launches today in beta for subscribers of the Google One AI Premium plan, which costs $20 a month. Google says it's testing the feature for Workspace customers later this year.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google Workspace gets automation flows, podcast-style summaries
Google is upgrading Workspace, its suite of cloud-based productivity tools, with new AI capabilities. The suite is gaining Workspace Flows, a tool designed to automate multi-step processes such as updating spreadsheets and digging through documents for information. Flows can tap Gems, Google's brand of custom AI-powered chatbots, to handle specialized tasks, and it can also integrate with apps like Google Drive to retrieve data. "Simply describe what you need in plain language, and Workspace Flows will design and build sophisticated, logic-driven flows," Yulie Kwon Kim, VP of product for Google Workspace, wrote in a blog post provided to TechCrunch. "We're also working with partners to connect Workspace Flows to other third-party tools you rely on, enabling it to support workflows beyond Workspace." The enhancements come as Google looks to make Workspace, which competes with platforms such as Microsoft 365, an AI-first experience. The search giant first began adding generative AI functionality to Workspace in March 2023, and recently eliminated additional fees for certain AI workspace features — though it did increase the price of Workspace plans. Elsewhere in Workspace, Google Docs will soon get the ability to convert drafts into podcast-style overviews, à la NotebookLM's Audio Overviews, and revise snippets of copy. An upcoming feature called "Help me refine" will offer suggestions on how to strengthen arguments, improve structure, and make points clearer, said Kim. In Google Sheets, a new feature set to arrive later this year, "Help me analyze," will provide guidance, spotlight trends, and help create interactive charts. In Google Meet, a tool called "Take notes for me" can summarize and recap specific topics from video calls. Google Chat users will be able to invoke Google's Gemini chatbot by typing "@gemini" in any conversation. Google Vids, Google's AI-powered video creation app for work, will soon be able to generate video clips using Google's Veo 2 model, which Google is integrating with the app. Lastly, Google said it's introducing new data residency controls that will allow customers to restrict where their data is processed to help comply with regulations such as the EU's GDPR.
