EU Council Presidency begins using AI-powered translation tool

Language technologies , Machine Translation
29.09.2017
Rihards Kalnins, Head of MT Solutions at Tilde, explaining features of the translation tool to the Premier Minister of Italy

At the Tallinn Digital Summit, the EU Council Presidency will begin using an AI-powered translation tool to enable multilingual communication. The new tool, developed by the language technology company Tilde, helps to cross language barriers for the thousands of EU delegates and journalists attending official events and meetings during the EU Council Presidency.

To reach the goal of an EU Council Presidency without language barriers, the translation tool uses Neural Machine Translation and the CEF eTranslation platform to provide secure, instant translation of texts, full documents, and websites. By utilizing AI-based machine learning, Neural MT produces highly fluent, readable, and almost humanlike translations.

The EU Council Presidency in Estonia will be the first to use the groundbreaking new tool, which also features the world’s very first Neural MT systems for Estonian. In addition to journalists and delegates, the tool’s users include Estonian public sector translators and staff members at the EU Council Presidency secretariat.

“The EU Council Presidency Translator is perfect proof that breakthroughs in AI and machine learning can be successfully used in real-world applications. The tool also shows that AI enables us to develop technology that surpasses Google in translation quality,” says Andrejs Vasiljevs, the CEO of Tilde. “We are honored that the EU Council Presidency in Estonia is a pioneer in the use of AI-powered translation to cross language barriers.”

Presenting the EU Council Presidency Translator to Greek PM Alexis Tsipras

(Presenting the AI-powered translation tool to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.)

The Presidency of the Council of the EU rotates among the EU member states every 6 months, helping to ensure the continuity of the EU's work. Following the Estonian EU Council Presidency, the AI-powered translation tool will be passed on to Bulgaria and Austria in 2018.

The Tallinn Digital Summit brings together EU heads of state and government in the capital of Estonia to discuss the steps needed to enable people, enterprises and governments to fully tap into the potential of innovative technologies and digitalisation.

The EU Council Presidency Translator is developed by Tilde, a leading European language technology company based in Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius, with support from the CEF Digital programme. In addition to building cutting-edge technology using AI, Tilde helps the EU to craft multilingual policy by providing input on the current state of language technology innovation.

Demonstrating the EU Council Presidency Translator to Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni

(Demonstrating the EU Council Presidency Translator to Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.)

 

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