The Economist unveils AI language transmissions

The Economist has started artificial intelligence-translated content on its low-cost app Espresso, reports Charlotte Tobitt of Press Gazette.

Tobitt reports, “Ludwig Siegele, senior editor for AI initiatives at The Economist, told Press Gazette that AI translation will never be a ‘solved problem,’ especially in journalism because it is difficult to translate well due to its cultural specificities.

“However he said it has reached the point where it is good enough to have introduced AI-powered, in-app translations in French, German, Mandarin and Spanish on The Economist’s ‘bite-sized’, cut-price app Espresso (which has just over 20,000 subscribers).

“Espresso has also just been made free to high school and university students aged 16 and older globally as part of a project by The Economist to make its journalism more accessible to audiences around the world.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.