Microsoft Edge powers live translation technology for YouTube videos and more with AI

Microsoft announced a set of new features including real-time video translation coming to Microsoft Edge. This new AI-powered feature will allow users to experience live translation of audio content on platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, Coursera, and more, offering both voice-over and subtitles. Besides education platforms like YouTube and Coursera, Microsoft Edge will also bring this real-time translation capability to major news websites like Reuters, CNBC, and Bloomberg.

Microsoft Edge will have an updated real-time translation feature that will enable translation from Spanish and Korean to English, and from English to German, Hindi, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. This feature was added to help make video content available to more people, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing. This feature will provide viewers with live subtitles.

Microsoft plans to expand support for additional languages ​​and websites, giving users access to a wider range of content, regardless of the content's original language.

This new real-time translation feature is part of a broader suite of AI enhancements being introduced by Microsoft Edge's Copilot initiative. Edge users already have the option of AI tools like video summarization, which aims to create a transcript of video content in just a few words to make it easier to understand the context of the video.

At Build 2024, Microsoft representatives revealed that the translation will happen entirely on the user's device, meaning that no data from the video ever leaves the user's machine. They said, “This means that no segment of the video or audio content ever leaves your machine or is processed in the cloud.”

Apart from the real-time translation feature, Microsoft also introduced other new add-ons. One of the highlights was the new features of the Copilot initiative. These new features of Copilot help users perform everyday tasks such as monitoring emails, automating workflows, assisting in employee onboarding, and performing data entry.