AI Can Write in English. Now It's Learning Other Languages

In recent years machines have learned to generate passable snippets of English, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence. Now they are moving on to other languages. Aleph Alpha, a startup in Heidelberg, Germany, has built one of the world's most powerful AI language models. Befitting the algorithm's European origins, it is fluent not just in English but also in German, French, Spanish, and Italian. The algorithm builds on recent advances in machine learning that have helped computers handle language with what sometimes seems like real understanding.