An artificial intelligence developed by Meta can now directly translate more than 200 world languages. This project announced in March could make the group’s platforms accessible to many more people.
The project, named “ No language left behind (NLLB, in French: “ No language left out “) aims to create a super-translator capable of speaking all the languages of the world. An ambitious project, which has already reached 200 languages.
The best super translator in the world
The first model of Meta’s artificial intelligence is called NLLB-200 and can translate 200 languages without going through English. It is therefore a truer translation that the AI seeks to achieve, in order to allow the translations to be as close as possible to the original publications. Over 7,000 languages are spoken around the world, however, so NLLB-200 still has a lot to learn.
Meta’s AI also includes minority languages, including 55 from the African continent, with very good results. The performance of NLLB-200 exceeds by 70% the capacities of other artificial intelligence translators on dialects from Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Thus, content can be translated into Kikuyu (spoken by 6 million people in Kenya) or Kamba (spoken by less than 4 million people).
A small step towards digital democracy
Eventually, the AI will be active on all Meta platforms, with the aim of translating content published on social networks into 200 languages. Networks like Instagram or Facebook will therefore become accessible to many more people who will be able to enjoy a variety of content in their native language. It is therefore a major strategic advantage for Meta, which will undoubtedly gain users.
It is also a step forward for digital democracy and for universal access to communication and information technologies. The current digital divide and inequalities in digital access are reinforced by the language barrier. This is therefore a way for current users to interact without having a common language.
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Source : Engadget
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