Its more than 15 years since Spotify has enabled creators from all walks of life to share their work with people across the world. This has been made possible by the sheer use of advanced technologies that have brought audio to the doorstep of each and every one, overcoming the obstacles of borders, distance and more.
Research shows that the original articulation and voices of the speakers offer as much weight to the stories as compared to their narratives. With recent advancements in the field of Artificial Intelligence, there are now ways to bridge the language gap as well, so that the voices could be heard worldwide without any hindrance.
Spotify has recently piloted AI Voice Translation for Podcasts which is a revolutionary and groundbreaking feature that automatically translates the podcasts into additional languages in the podcaster’s Original Voice. The tool exploits the latest innovations in Open AI’s voice generation technology that has been lately released. This technology matches the speaker’s original style and articulation that paves the way for a realistic and genuine listening experience unlike traditional dubbing. Hence, an originally recorded episode that was in English can now be available in other languages while maintain the speaker’s characteristic style of speech and dialogue.
As a part of this pilot project, Spotify has been working closely with popular podcasters such as Bill Simmons, Dax Shepard, Lex Fridman,and Steven Bartlett to produce AI-powered translations in other languages such as Spanish, French and German. The process has been accomplished for a selected number of episodes and more are yet to come. The voice-translated episodes from the pilot creators are be accessible worldwide to Premium as well as Free users. Presently Spotify has released an initial bundle of episodes translated in Spanish that will be closely followed by German and French in the coming days.
You can access these pilot episodes by clicking on any of the following links:
1. Lex Fridman Podcast – “Interview with Yuval Noah Harari”
2. Armchair Expert – “Kristen Bell, by the grace of god, returns”
3. The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett – “Interview with Dr. Mindy Pelz”
Alternatively you can search for the above podcasts in Spotify, and click on the link at the end of the ‘About’ section that reads ‘Link to AI voice translated show in Spanish’
Closing Comments:
A careful and reflective approach to AI can indeed help us to build very deep connections between creators and listeners. Spotify has given credence to this belief by matching the creator’s own voice and articulation. This encourages listeners the world over to discover and be inspired by new podcasters in a way that has never been seen before.
