Will ASL Interpreter Apps Eventually Replace Human Interpreters?

Imagine living in a world where no one speaks your language. As it is, this is how life can feel every day for many deaf people. However, hope is on the horizon.

At present, Google is developing pioneering new ASL interpreter technology. More specifically, ASL apps that can record a deaf person using American Sign Language, before translating hand interpretation into text and audio. The only question is, will apps eventually make human interpreters obsolete?

 

Meet Google’s AI ASL Interpreter

To be clear, when we say that Google is developing ASL interpreter technology, we don’t mean the kind of apps that translate text people type into images of ASL hand motions.

As reported by the BBC in 2019, Google research engineers Valentin Bazarevsky and Fan Zhang, are helping develop AI technology that translates real ASL hand signs (in real-time), into text and audio. This will make it possible for any deaf person to communicate naturally in ASL with anyone with a smartphone.

 

How Does Google’s ASL Interpreter Technology Work?

How Google’s ASL interpreter technology works is simple. Using similar AI technology to that powering Google Translate, apps will use smartphone cameras to record the hand motions of people speaking using ASL hand interpretation. These signs will then be translated to text or audio.

For non-deaf people to converse just as easily, ASL apps will also allow users to type text, which then gets converted to ASL via a 3D animated character on device screens. Surprisingly, though, this technology isn’t anything new.

 

Some Scaled-Down ASL Apps are Already Available

At present, apps like Hand Talk already make it possible to convert typed text into ASL hand signs. In 2018, an app called GnoSys also launched in India, that can translate recorded hand signs into text and audio and vice versa.

Sadly, while ASL interpreter technology does already exist, combing all the capabilities Google has into a single smartphone application is proving to be a little tricky.

One stumbling block that Google still needs to overcome, concerns the fact that its ASL interpreter technology can only partially interpret conversations. At present, for example, Google’s AI can’t detect facial expressions as well as it can hand motions. Neither can apps cope with the speed at which some people sign.

 

When Will Google’s American Sign Language Translator be Ready?

While there are still technical challenges to resolve with real-time ASL interpreter apps, it is likely that apps will start reaching consumers in the very near future. The only question is, will apps eventually become so advanced that they make human ASL interpreters obsolete?

 

ASL Interpreters Don’t Need to Worry Just Yet

Are you an ASL interpreter worried about one day being replaced by a machine learning algorithm? If so, there is no need to worry just yet.

As many businesses find when translating documents with Google Translate, AI translations can be good, but they’re rarely perfect. It will, therefore, still be necessary to hire real-time human ASL interpreters and translators for quite some time yet.