Skype Translator judged as the greatest software innovation of the year by Popular Science

1 min. read

Published on October 19, 2016

published on October 19, 2016

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Popular Science, the popular American magazine that carries science and technology content for general readers, has judged Skype Translator as one of the greatest software innovations of the year. Interestingly, out of the six winners, Skype Translator goes on to be the Grand Award winner.

Skype’s artificial-intelligence-based Translator is our digital Tower of Babel. It lets us talk to anyone, anywhere, regardless of mother tongue.

Made available in late 2015, Skype Translator aims to break down language barriers with your friends, family, and colleagues and helps communicates in eight languages for voice calls and in over 50 languages while instant messaging.

Using machine learning, when a user speaks, the AI, drawing on millions of speech examples, analyzes the words and transcribes them into text. The text is then scrubbed of ‘ums’ and word repetitions, and run through a translator. The AI is self-learning and the more you use the service, the smarter it gets and the better it functions.

Do you use Skype Translator? How has your experience been with the service?

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.