Japanese Government Eyes USD 19m for Automated Simultaneous Interpretation by 2025 Slator

Simultaneous interpretation (SI) has been described by research scientists as "an extremely difficult job […] requiring careful concentration and having very little margin for error." Enhancing the difficulty is the fact that the practice of interpretation, per se, is "as much interpersonal as it is linguistic," as one professional interpreter put it. Little surprise then that interpretation -- heretofore largely unchanged by software advances -- would be a highly attractive target for AI research. Hoping for a shot at the brass ring of automated SI is the Japanese government, which will fund the development of AI-powered software that can deliver SI in 15 languages in time for the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, according to an August 28, 2019 article in Nikkei Asian Review. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will ask for JPY 2bn (USD 18.9m) in the fiscal 2020 budget to fund the program, the same article said.