Will Spotify use AI to translate all podcasts into African languages?

Know Afrika
2 min readSep 27, 2023

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Spotify

Spotify, a popular platform for listening to podcasts and music, has released a new service that employs sophisticated computer technology to translate podcasts into several languages. This way, you can listen to a podcast in your native language while also hearing the original voices of the creators.

This clever technology can make a person’s voice sound exactly like theirs, even if it only hears them for a few seconds. Spotify believes that changing the voices in traditional translations will make podcast listening feel more natural.

For example, if a podcast was originally created in English, you may now listen to it in Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, and other languages while still hearing the same people speaking in their own voices.

Initially, Spotify is only doing this for shows produced in English and Spanish. They intend to add French and German shortly. These translated shows are available on the Spotify app, and more will be added in the following weeks and months.

Spotify has a large number of users who enjoy listening to podcasts on their platform. This new language feature may attract even more listeners, particularly in areas where the podcast’s original language is not frequently spoken.

However, it is difficult to ensure that the translation conveys the same emotions and meanings as the original conversation.

This technology can be utilized for more than simply podcasts. It could aid in the production of multinational versions of films and television series.

However, there is concern that this technology could be misused, such as by creating phony recordings of significant others saying things they did not say. So, while this new feature is exciting for podcast fans, it also raises some serious ethical and safety concerns.

Spotify can now convert podcasts into Spanish, French, and German, but there is no word on African languages.

However, if Spotify or another podcast site has this technology, it can be used to convert any language into African languages.

However, keep in mind that not all podcasts will use this technology. It is up to the podcast creators to make the decision. However, most podcasters want as many people to listen as possible, so this new option could be interesting to them.

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