I would love to travel the world but I’m a little hesitant to visit certain places due to the language barriers that exist. A portable universal translator built into our phones or affixed to wireless ear buds would help with that. But that wouldn’t solve all of our foreign language needs.
By and large we’d still be limited in what we can learn, what content we can consume, and with whom we can communicate. But what if there was a better way? A way in which someone could broadcast a message and have everyone in the entire world simultaneously understand what they were saying? Would such a technology revolutionize the world, spreading knowledge in ways not seen since the advent of the Gutenberg press? Would it take globalization to the next level and transform politics? Well, we may soon find out thanks to a new breakthrough from Microsoft that enables holograms to appear as though they are speaking a foreign language in a perfectly natural way.
As Futurism puts it, “Imagine a world leader delivering a speech, and every person across the globe feeling like the leader was in the room with them and speaking the local language. Or a world-class professor giving a lecture that anyone could attend and understand — without leaving their homes and without learning their teacher’s language.”
This amazing breakthrough comes to us by combining mixed reality technology with an AI breakthrough known as neural text-to-speech. According to Futurism, “Neural text-to-speech can be used to make interactions with chatbots and virtual assistants more natural and engaging, convert digital texts such as e-books into audiobooks and enhance in-car navigation systems.” Or in this case it can be used to create holograms that speak foreign languages.
Holograms have long been a science fiction stable but it was always assumed that their uses cases would be benign. Used to help us make work presentations remotely or attend classes while we’re home sick. A means of transporting ourselves to another location, a way to let us be in two places at once.
Actually having our holograms perform tasks, such as speaking another language, that our normal selves don’t know how to do – well that’s a whole new ballgame. One that points to what the future of holograms, and society at large, may look like down the road. And I for one can’t wait to see how it all plays out.
Is a hologram that speaks a foreign language the Greatest Idea Ever?
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