If you’ve ever wondered what your weekly all-hands meeting would sound like in Italian, we’ve got some good news.
What happened: Microsoft unveiled a new AI feature for Teams that can clone the voices of speakers and translate them into different languages in real time. The tool, which will roll out to Microsoft 365 subscribers early next year, will start with nine language options.
- Microsoft’s competitors like Meta, OpenAI, and ElevenLabs are also developing their own versions of voice-cloning translation tools, though OpenAI has delayed rolling out its tool over safety concerns.
Why it matters: Over 200 million people use translation services every day just on Google. A real-time voice translation tool could remove many of the language barriers that hamper business, legal, and medical services without losing the human element of real voices.
- And on social media, Instagram is piloting a feature on Reels that can translate a person’s voice into another language, and sync their lip movements to match.
Yes, but: Safeguards for this kind of tech are a big question mark. Similar tools have been used in deepfake scams, including one reported case of a fake Teams meeting that convinced a staff member to wire US$25.6 million to a criminal posing as the company’s CFO.—LA