IBM’s Watson starts offering Hindi language translation, with a namaste

Technology giant International Business Machines’ (IBM’s) artificial intelligence platform, Watson, can now offer translation service in Hindi to individuals and businesses.

With the addition of Hindi, Watson now offers translation service in 15 languages, with the technology now available to more than two billion people in their native languages.

Unlike other services, Watson Language Translator understands Hindi, along with its nuances and emotions, said Karan Bajwa, managing director of IBM India. He added that the translator could help brands achieve good connect with customers.

With language barriers across boundaries and rising costs of skilled people, automation offers an alternative, experts say.

The translator, which is available in Application Programming Interface (API) form, can be used across applications, websites, documents and chats. What makes Watson unique is that the data remain with the owner and, like all IBM services, users can avail the Watson Language Translator service in a secure environment, said the tech giant. 

The addition of Hindi to the service is the latest in a series of artificial intelligence steps the technology giant is taking to empower marketing, healthcare, and more.

In June, artificial intelligence took a big leap in becoming man’s greatest opponent as technology giant IBM engaged its program called IBM Debater in a verbal combat with an Israeli college debate champion, a New York Times report said.

According to the report, IBM Debater, which was designed to hold intelligent conversations with humans, argued in favour of government subsidies for space exploration. It delivered three brief speeches in a digitally created monotone while responding to Noa Ovadia, who was arguing against the topic.

In May, IBM said it would offer its marketing cloud service in India, powered by artificial intelligence, through its Chennai data centre. Called Watson Customer Engagement, WCE will let Indian enterprises host their marketing data on IBM’s cloud data centre.

Already, IBM Watson, an artificial intelligence platform for business, detects complex diseases and suggests treatments.

In June, IBM said the rise of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain would soon disrupt the marketing tech services space.