In recent years, our devices have gained a new kind of high-tech convenience: Many smartphones can now translate conversations in real time without the need for a human translator in between.
With the Google $GOOG (-1,03%)
$GOOGL (-1,03%) Translate app on an Android smartphone or Apple $AAPL (-2,33%) AirPods Pro 3 connected to an iPhone, language barriers can be overcome.
But not everyone has a smartphone that supports live translation, or has the time or bandwidth to install an app such as Duolingo $DUOL (and possibly commit to a subscription).
T-Mobile $TMUS (+2,27%) ($DTE (+0,7%)) now wants to remove any barriers to making calls.
The company is offering live translations at the network level so that even with a basic cell phone, you can speak to someone who speaks one of over 50 languages with the help of T-Mobile's AI agent.
Starting today, T-Mobile is accepting applications for a beta version of its new live translation feature for phone calls, which will be tested in the spring.
Participation is open to all customers with a T-Mobile postpaid contract, such as the Essentials, Experience More, Experience Beyond and Better Value plans.
"We want to make language cool again," said John Saw, Chief Technology Officer of T-Mobile, pointing out that its customers make 6 billion international calls a year and 40% of those people travel internationally."
"Live Translation is a real innovation breakthrough as it brings the latest AI models to our voice network."
Just as during the beta phase of the later T-Satellite service, T-Mobile has not yet decided which tariffs will include the Live Translation feature. The costs, if any, have also not yet been decided. T-Satellite is currently included in the Experience Beyond and Better Value plans and is available for other plans as an add-on option for USD 10. However, it is also available to customers of other providers for USD 10 per month.
》How does live translation work《
To activate Live Translation during a call, the T-Mobile customer presses *87* (star-eight-seven-star), which activates the AI agent. Only one party on the call needs to be a T-Mobile customer, and the feature is also available while roaming.
According to T-Mobile, no setup, no language training and no specification of the languages to be translated are required. The AI agent recognizes which languages are being spoken in real time and speaks the translation as soon as a person stops speaking.
The AI agent also recognizes whether you are calling from another country and selects a language for translation. For example, if you call someone in Brazil, it will choose Portuguese. If the person speaks another language, for example Spanish instead of Brazilian Portuguese, the agent switches immediately.
In addition, the spoken translation does not sound like a robot voice. "Our AI model can actually clone your voice in another language while retaining the intonation, emotion and rhythm," all of which are captured spontaneously, Saw said. He attributes the performance to the low latency inherent in T-Mobile's 5G Advanced network.
Once activated, the feature doesn't need to be turned off. When both speakers switch to the same language, the AI agent simply stops acting as an intermediary.
》The true test will be the quality of the translations《
"We've done a lot of benchmarks for AI-powered translations," Saw said, "and they match the accuracy of any established service." He said the model complies with FCC 2027 captioning guidelines and meets all ADA accessibility standards.
Saw would not reveal exactly which AI translation models are being used and which partner companies are providing them. He did confirm that T-Mobile is working with several AI companies, but "we won't name them because we value them all equally."
Saw noted that the way T-Mobile's network is designed as a platform has the advantage that updated AI translation models can be incorporated, updated overnight and made available to hundreds of millions of handsets.
》Live translation is just the first AI feature from T-Mobile《
All major mobile operators are using AI at different levels. AT&T $T (-0,37%) for example, recently announced AI technology to optimize internet traffic at the home router level, and Verizon $VZ (-0,86%) is using Google's AI to improve its customer service experience. T-Mobile itself is using AI to automatically reroute cellular traffic between towers during emergencies.
Without going into specific future strategies, Saw mentioned some other tasks that AI agents could take on in the future, for example as AI receptionists or AI concierges.
The focus on AI technology in the network opens up these possibilities.
So why is the company choosing live translation as its first entry into AI-based, customer-centric network functions?
"Live translation is not an easy solution," Saw replied, "but it's exactly the right starting point to solve the current problem."
