Apple, Google and Meta are trying to perfect a science-fiction gadget: The universal translator

For decades, shows like “Star Trek” and novels like “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” have showcased fictional universal translators, capable of seamlessly converting any language into English and vice versa.

Now, those gadgets once limited to works of science fiction are inching close to reality.

During its iPhone unveiling event on Tuesday, Apple included a video of many travelers’ dream scenario. It showed an English-speaking tourist buying flowers in an unnamed Spanish-speaking country. The florist addressed the tourist in Spanish, but what the tourist heard was in clear, coherent English.

“Today all the red carnations are 50% off,” the tourist heard in English in her headphones, at essentially the same time that the clerk was speaking.

The video was marketing material for Apple’s latest AirPods Pro 3, but the feature is one of many of its kind coming from tech companies that also include Google parent Alphabet and Meta, which makes Facebook and Instagram.

Technological advancements spurred by the arrival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 have ushered in an era of generative artificial intelligence. Almost three years later, those advancements are resulting in real-time language translators.

For Apple, Live Translation is a key selling point for the AirPods Pro 3, which the company unveiled on Tuesday. The new $250 earbuds go on sale next week, and with Live Translation, users will be able to immediately hear French, German, Portuguese and Spanish translated to English. Live Translation will also arrive as an update to AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 on Monday.

And when two people are speaking to each other wearing AirPods, the conversation can be translated both ways simultaneously inside each user’s headphones. In Apple’s video demo, it looked like two people talking to each other in different languages.

Analysts are excited that the feature could mark a step forward for Apple’s AI strategy. The translation feature needs to be paired with a new-enough iPhone to run Apple Intelligence, Apple’s AI software suite.

“If we can actually use the AirPods for live translations, that’s a feature that would actually get people to upgrade,” DA Davidson analyst Gil Luria told CNBC on Wednesday.

Translation is emerging as a key battleground in the technology industry as AI gets good enough to translate languages as quickly as people speak.

But Apple is not alone.

In the past year, Google and Meta have also released hardware products featuring real-time translation capabilities.

Google’s Pixel 10 phone has a capability that can translate what a speaker is saying to the listener’s language during phone calls. That feature, called Voice Translate is designed to also preserve the speaker’s voice inflections. Voice Translate will start showing up on people’s phones through a software update on Monday.

In Google’s live demo in August, Voice Translate was able to translate a sentence from entertainer Jimmy Fallon into Spanish, and it actually sounded like the comedian. Apple’s feature does not try to imitate the user’s voice.

Meanwhile, Meta in May announced that its Ray-Ban Meta glasses would be able to translate what a person is saying in another language using the device’s speakers, and the other party in the conversations would be able to see translated responses transcribed on the user’s phone.

Meta will hold its own product keynote on Wednesday, where the company is expected to announce the next generation of its smart glasses, which will feature a small display in one of the lenses, CNBC reported in August. It’s unclear if Meta will announce more translation features.

And OpenAI in June showcased an intelligent voice assistant mode for ChatGPT that has fluid translation built-in as one of many features. ChatGPT is integrated with Apple’s Siri, but not in voice mode. OpenAI is planning to release new hardware products with Apple’s former design guru Jony Ive in the coming years.

The rise of live translation could also reshape entire industries. Translators and interpreters are the number one type of job threatened by AI, and 98% of translators’ work activities overlap with what AI can do, a Microsoft Research study published in August found.

In the past several years, a number of purpose-built translation gadgets have entered the market, taking advantage of global high-speed cellular service and improving online translation services to produce puck-like devices or headphones with translation built-in for a couple hundred dollars.

“What I love about what Apple is doing is it really just illuminates the fact that how pressing of an issue this is,” said Joe Miller, U.S. general manager of Japan-based Pocketalk, which makes a $299 translation device that goes between two people conversing in different languages and translates their conversation in audio and text.

Given Apple’s massive scale and the fact that the Apple shipped about 18 million sets of wireless headphones in the first quarter alone, according to Canalys, the company’s entry into the market will expose a wider subset of customers to improvements translation tech has made in recent years.

Despite Apple’s entry into the market, makers of purpose-built devices say their focus on accuracy and knowledge of linguistics will provide better translations than what’s available for free with a new phone.

“We actually hired linguists,” said Aleksander Alski, head of U.S. and Canada for Poland-based Vasco Electronics, which is releasing translation headphones that can imitate the user’s voice, like Google’s feature. “We combined the AI with with human input, and thanks to that, we were able to secure much higher accuracy throughout all the languages we offer.”

There’s also home-field advantage. Vasco Electronics’ largest market is Europe, and Apple’s Live Translation isn’t available for EU users, Apple said on its website.

Some of the products being introduced by tech companies are less than universal, and are limited to a small number of languages for now. Apple’s feature is only available in 5 languages, versus Pocketalk’s 95.

Pocketalk’s Miller believes that the potential of the technology goes far beyond a tourist ordering a glass of wine in France. He says that it’s most powerful when its used in workplaces like schools and hospitals, which require privacy and security features that go beyond what Apple and Google provide.

“This isn’t about luxury tourism and travel,” Miller said. “This is about the intersection of language and friction, when a discussion needs to be had.”

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.

WATCH: If the AirPods live translation features work, it’s a breakthrough in AI, says DA Davidson’s Luria