Google Brain researchers have succeeded in translating speech without transcribing it first. Speech translation by machines normally involves first converting it into text before translating it into another language, meaning any error in the initial stage will lead to a mistake in the latter. Researchers used neural networks – computer systems modelled on the human brain – to cut out the transcription phase, potentially paving the way for more accurate and faster translations. But she thinks it could set the standard for future machine translation. The team at DeepMind worked with two teams of researchers, one from Stanford University and one from MIT, who were able to translate between English and Chinese using only about 100 hours of training data.
Google Brain researchers have succeeded in translating speech without transcribing it first. Speech translation by machines normally involves first converting it into text before translating it into another language, meaning any error in the initial stage will lead to a mistake in the latter. Researchers used neural networks – computer systems modelled on the human brain – to cut out the transcription phase, potentially paving the way for more accurate and faster translations. The team at DeepMind worked with two teams of researchers, one from Stanford University and one from MIT, who were able to translate between English and Chinese using only about 100 hours of training data.