Kites Acquisition, Zoom Will Have an AI-Based Language Translator Feature

Video conferencing app Zoom acquired startup Kites GmbH (Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions) which focuses on developing artificial intelligence (AI) for real-time translation software. Of course, this solution is very useful for video chat or conferencing platforms if participants use different languages.

Later, Zoom will have a real-time language translation feature in the future. Currently, Zoom only has a transcription feature that is more similar to subtitles and displays the sentences spoken by Zoom participants.

Unfortunately, the transcription feature is only available in English. By acquiring the German startup, it is not impossible that there will be more language options available.

"Machine translation (MT) solutions will be key to leveraging our platform for Zoom users around the world," said Velchamy Sankarlingam, Zoom's President of Product and Engineering in a blog post announcing the acquisition.

"With our aligned mission to create frictionless collaboration, regardless of language, geographic location, or other boundaries, we believe the Kites team will fit well with Zoom," added Sankarlingam as quoted by Mobile Syrup.

Kites GmBH was founded in 2015 by academics from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Two co-founders, namely Dr. Alex Waibel and Dr. Sebastian Stüker is a researcher at the KIT campus. This small company only has a total of 12 researchers.

Unfortunately, it was not stated how much Zoom was disbursing to buy the German startup. Zoom has also not disclosed when the Kite GmbH technology will be implemented in its application.

After the acquisition, the Kite GmbH team will continue to work in Germany. Zoom will also explore plans to build a research center for further machine translation software development.

Meanwhile, Dr. Waibel has been appointed a Zoom Research Fellow, where he will be an advisor to Zoom's machine translation research team.

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