Field: Languages
Vesuvius Challenge: Can AI decipher these mysterious ancient scrolls?
Herculaneum’s Villa de Papiri contains hundreds of ancient texts that were carbonized by Mt. Vesuvius. Now, they can only be deciphered by AI.
Watch amazing Meta AI translate language in near real-time
Meta has unveiled Seamless, a language translation AI that can quickly translate speech while preserving the original tone and emotion.
How language and social status change the developing brain
Research shows that a child's early environment and socioeconomic status (SES) impact their language development and processing skills.
Breakthrough AI learns language with “human-like” efficiency
An new AI model learned to generalize language concepts with "human-like" efficiency and remix them to respond to novel inquires.
ChatGPT forces us to ask: how much of “being human” belongs to us?
Large language models have been trained on massive amounts of “natural” human language — just like us. Does this make the robots part human?
Meta’s first-of-its-kind AI can translate between any of 100 languages
Meta’s SeamlessM4T AI puts it a step closer to creating a universal translator that eliminates the language barrier for good.
This unique human brain structure may have given us speech
Speech is unique to humans, yet most brain structures involved in speech are also present in Old World monkeys and other primates — except this one.
PhD student solves a mysterious ancient Sanskrit text algorithm after 2,500 years
For centuries, a grammatical problem surrounding a meta-rule in Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī has risked readers misinterpreting the text.
New AI translates 5,000-year-old cuneiform tablets instantly
Translating an ancient language is a time-intensive process, and only a few hundred experts are qualified to perform it. Could AI do the job?
AI is helping decode the oldest story in the world
A new algorithm is helping decode ancient cuneiform tablets — including those containing the oldest known work of world literature.
Startup breaks through “accent barrier” with real-time translator
Three Stanford students have launched Sanas, a startup developing the world’s first real-time speech accent translator.
AI dubbing can make actors appear to speak any language
A new AI dubbing tech called TrueSync matches actors’ mouths with recorded dialogue to make watching a movie in an unknown language feel less jarring.
Neanderthals had the capacity for human communication
Neanderthals appear to have had the capacity to hear verbal language, suggesting that modern human communication has ancient roots.
The pandemic is forcing sign language to evolve
Sign language users are adapting to the limitations of video conferencing platforms, which have become more popular due to the pandemic.
Bringing lost languages back to life with AI
An algorithm that can identify the closest living relatives of lost languages could help linguists unlock the meaning of ancient texts.
Nerve-stimulating earbud could accelerate language learning
A non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation device can make language learning easier — and it might help with other types of learning, too.
Conversations with refugees
Aline Sara is changing the conversation around what it means to be a refugee by talking — literally. Through her...
A language goes extinct every two weeks. here’s a plan to save them.
Volunteers worldwide are documenting the world's rarest languages in a project called Wikitongues.
Is this the end of language barriers?
What if you could travel anywhere in the world and there was no language barrier?