Apple just launched a pretty impressive feature with their AirPods Pro 3 – the ability to actively translate any language in real-time, so you can listen to anyone speak but understand them perfectly. The only problem is that this feature made it to Google’s Pixel Buds in 2017 – yes, nearly a decade back. I don’t mean to be hard on Apple, the company has a remarkable control over its hardware, but if the Live Translation feature on the AirPods Pro 3 demonstrated anything, it’s that Apple’s AI is still miles behind its rival… and one particular detail really drove this point.
Click on the video above and you’ll see the Live Translation feature in action – two people talk in their respective languages, and Apple Intelligence translates words and phrases in real-time. The only problem isn’t just that this feature’s 8 years too late… it’s that in the translation, you aren’t listening to the opposite person talking, you’re listening to the voice of Siri translating things instead. You could be talking to Morgan Freeman and the AirPods Pro 3 still play back his dialogues in Siri’s voice. The dissonance can be a bit jarring, which is why Google unveiled Voice Translate this year at their August event. Voice Translate doesn’t just translate languages, it translates them while maintaining the original speaker’s tone of voice. So in theory, Ariana Grande sounds like Ariana Grande, and Emmanuel Macron sounds like Emmanuel Macron.
Design: Apple
I don’t mean to knock the AirPods Pro 3, they’re honestly fantastic – Apple just debuted the AirPods’ ability to do incredible things like measure your health stats right from your ear – something that sounds absolutely mental on paper. Imagine your AirPods knowing your heart rate, knowing what music to play to calm you down or hype you up – that’s honestly game-changing. This is besides the fact that the AirPods Pro were designed to work as hearing aids last year. Google and other companies have some serious catching up to do here… but this just reinforces my point. Apple is the king of hardware, but as far as AI goes, the company has a lot of catching up to do.
Realistically, I do see this happening if Apple makes a few changes. There’s been talks of Apple potentially buying Perplexity, while the company already has a deep relationship with OpenAI for bringing ChatGPT to Apple Intelligence. However, nothing seems to be finalized as Tim Cook allegedly doesn’t believe in making such a splashy purchase. Apple’s own AI assistant still hasn’t replaced Siri effectively, as Craig Federighi mentioned in an interview after WWDC. The company’s also been ruthlessly moralistic about not training their AI on consumer data the way Google and Meta do – but that fortitude has come with a price.
The AirPods Pro 3 are currently on presale, with a $249 price tag. The new flagship earphones will hit the stores 10 days from now on September 19th.
The post The AirPods Pro 3 Live Translation still proves that Google’s AI is miles ahead first appeared on Yanko Design.