Microsoft Introduces Group Transcribe – Meeting Transcribing and Translation App
Pilot projects at Microsoft Garage have unveiled Group Transcribe, a mobile app for transcribing and real-time translation into different languages. At this stage, only owners of devices running iOS will be able to use the product.
To start interacting with the application, the meeting organizer must create a meeting; then, you can invite other people to participate. This can be done via Bluetooth, using a QR code or a link. After the meeting starts, a live transcript is displayed on the devices of all participants. If everyone in the meeting wants to speak in their own language, Group Transcribe can translate the speech online. According to the available data, translation into dozens of languages is supported.
Microsoft says the app is designed with the experience of people with disabilities in mind. Group Transcribe will enable people with hearing impairments and other hearing impairments to participate fully in meetings. The app will also help those who are not native speakers of the language spoken by other meeting participants. Such people will be able to read transcripts and translations of replicas, updated online, on their device screens.
Like many similar cloud-based services, the Microsoft application is not recommended for use in confidential meetings that might discuss important issues. Group Transcribe provides privacy settings that the meeting organizer can use to determine the meeting’s security level. Although Microsoft does not save meeting transcripts, they continue to be stored on the participants’ devices in the conversations. Users also have the option to allow the app to use conversation recordings to improve the service.