Imagine a world where you could walk into a restaurant in any country and confidently order a meal from the menu in almost any language without looking like you’re playing a particularly difficult round of charades.
Language barriers have always been a pain, but thanks to the Translate One2One, an AI-driven earpiece that interprets languages in near real-time, bridging those linguistic and cultural gaps can now be accomplished in as little as 5 seconds.
Sold as a two-piece set, the Translate One2One is currently available for purchase at a more than reasonable price of $279/£205.
Developed by Australian start-up company, Lingmo International, Translate One2One is a wearable earpiece that offers to translate both spoken and written communication in nine different languages (German, French, English UK, English US, Italian Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese & Arabic).
Powered by IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence, the Translate One2One achieves an 85% accuracy rate and runs on WiFi, Bluetooth and even SIM card connectivity for added mobile support if you get lost and need help getting back to the hotel.
In true machine learning form, the AI technology built in to the Translate One2One gets smarter the more it is used and will pick up on things such as accents and dialects to give more accurate translations as time goes by.
Speaking on the Translate One2One, Lingmo International’s founder, Danny May, stated:
“As the first device on the market for language translation using AI that does not rely on connectivity to operate, it offers significant potential for its unique application across airlines, foreign government relations and even not-for-profits working in remote areas.”
With this in mind, it’s clear to see that Lingmo’s vision for the Translate One2One goes way beyond just being able to ask for directions to the pub in Japanese. Instead, May suggests this could be the first step towards a new world where language is irrelevant and people will no longer have to invest years off their life in training just to be able to communicate with people from other countries or cultures.
However, as convenient as this may sound to the many monolinguals among us who never found the time to expand their language skills, there is a slight concern about what part AI will play on human ambition in the future.
Of course, things such as chatbots and intelligent market insights are incredibly useful in business, but when AI begins stifling our will to learn and our determination to overcome life’s obstacles is constantly being replaced by the easy option, what will become of humanity then?
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