So that’s really a use of artificial intelligence that I hadn’t thought about yet. Krisp which I have already told you about for its tool capable of removing ambient noises has just released a new technology that will serve people with a knife cut when they speak English.

So we French, we are not too concerned because our accent is it really “charming” for foreigners, and especially for Americans. But for all the others, who know how to speak English but with an accent that does not deceive anyone on their country of origin, Krisp will be able to come to help them.

I think for example, of all those who pass job interviews in Visio, to all those who do training in English for the greatest number, to the youtubers, of course, but also to all these people who every day, tirelessly, try to scam poor retirees by selling them cryptocurrencies or virtual solar panels from their call center.

The tool in question is called AI accent conversion And works as a real universal translator of Star Trek. With the difference that it is in version 0.1 beta and only transforms your accent into that of an American from Baaase. Concretely, it is integrated directly into the KRISP office application and acts as a virtual microphone that changes the voice in real time.

The beauty of the thing is that it is compatible with all the main visioconference platforms: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Webex. You activate the function, and presto, your interlocutor hears you with impeccable American accent, while you continue to speak normally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znt1zbhkiq8


On the performance side, Krisp announces a latency of only 200mswhat they call “imperceptible time in conversations”. In the demo shared by the company, the transformation seems rather convincing, even if the result keeps a little robotic side that could make you pass quickly for the distant cousin of Siri.

For the moment, technology supports more than 17 accents of Indian dialectsbut Krisp plans to add other accents in the future, such as the Philippin accent. An Irish accent would not be luxury either. Lol.

The tool was first deployed in call centers before its wider release, which explains this initial focus and for those interested, AI accent conversion is available in beta version. Free version users can use it to 60 minutes per daywhile the business plan to $ 15/month offers you unlimited use. Enough to become virtually full -time American if your heart tells you.

So on the one hand I find it great because it is a use that will be useful for many people. For example, me if I want to make youtube videos in English, it will be more pleasant for an American to listen to me if I have a perfect accent than with my poor English accent ch’ti, college level. But somewhere, it also erases our cultural differences, and that’s a shame, because it is also nice to see that everyone does not speak the same, that everyone brings their little something, and that ultimately we understand each other more or less all.

But the co-founder and president of Krisp, Arto Minasyan, may not be in my opinion, since he explains that: “As a person with an accent, I have often noticed that people find it difficult to understand me, even when my English is fluid. It is not a question … It is simply a reality of communication.”A reality, certainly, but which also makes the charm of our globalized world.

So I salute innovation, even if I hope it will not become a fashion to erase its accent as some can erase physical traits or other peculiarities that would reveal their origins. After in an ideal world, maybe we should rather develop an AI that would help us to better understand different accents, rather than standardize them.

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