Microsoft is leveraging AI to push real-time translations in Skype to the next level. This week, the Skype team unveiled a new “TruVoice” feature that can translate what participants in a group call say in another langue and do so while imitating the tone of their voice.

This new real-time voice translation feature using your own voice is currently available for Skype Insiders alongside other additions. The video below shows how real-time translations work with or without the “TruVoice” feature that imitates the voices of participants in a video call.

According to the Skype team, real-time translations with natural voice “use AI to sample your words and tune the translation to sound like you, making the conversation more human.” Translations are currently available in English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and other languages.

Skype could already translate voice into text, but providing real-time voice translations in a voice that doesn’t sound generic or robotic is quite impressive in itself. “This is a huge step forward for Skype, as it makes it possible for people who speak different languages to easily communicate with each other,”sky the Skype team emphasized.

You can try real-time translations with natural voice by downloading the Skype Insider app today. Skype has pretty much taken a back seat since Microsoft started focusing more of its resources on Microsoft Teams, but it’s probably one of the most interesting features Skype received in a while. Skype and Teams do share various features, and it will be interesting to see if the latter eventually adds support for this TruVoice technology.

Tagged with Skype