Microsoft has a wild hologram that translates HoloLens keynotes into Japanese

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By Matthew Griffin Virtual World 5th September 2019

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

The combination of universal #translators and #holograms opens up a whole new world of #communication for us all as #Microsoft demonstrates

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Recently I had the pleasure of working on Microsoft’s annual Artificial Intelligence (AI) thought paper, but AI isn’t the only technology on the company’s mind after they recently showed off their latest HoloLens hologram technology capable of transforming someone into a digital clone of themselves speaking another language – awesome! And I want one – I can imagine boring people with my keynotes now not just in one language but hundreds! The software giant unveiled the technology during a keynote at the Microsoft Inspire partner conference in Las Vegas. Microsoft also added that they’d recently scanned Julia White, a company executive for Azure, at a Microsoft Mixed Reality capture studio to transform her into an exact hologram replica, in something that I guess is just another normal day at the office for her… anyway, back to the story.

As you can see from the video the digital version of Julia appeared onstage to translate her keynote into Japanese. In order to pull off the trickery Microsoft used its Azure’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) cloud tech and Natural Language Translation (NLP) Text-to-Speech synthesis engine that worked by taking recordings of White’s voice, so as to create a personalised voice signature, and then make it sound as though she was speaking Japanese.

See it in action

Microsoft has shown off holograms of people before, but the translation aspect is a step beyond what’s been possible with HoloLens. This looks like it’s just a demonstration for now, and you’d need access to a Mixed Reality capture studio to even start to take advantage of this. Microsoft’s studios are equipped with lighting rigs and high-resolution cameras to capture a fully accurate digital hologram of someone, which isn’t something that can be done easily at home with a smartphone – just yet although that’s something that Samsung is working on with its only slightly less awesome Video to Video to VR tech.

Still, Microsoft’s demonstration is certainly impressive and it speaks to the company’s ambitions with Azure, HoloLens, and beyond. The HoloLens 2 might be targeted at businesses for now, but Microsoft is obviously attempting to build software and services that will scale to wherever augmented reality and mixed reality might end up heading.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as a "Walking encyclopaedia of the future" by NASA and a futurist polymath, is one of the world's most renowned futurists and strategic foresight experts. A serial entrepreneur Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working across the next 50 years, XPotential University, the world's first free futures and foresight university, and the World Futures Forum which works with the United Nations to solve the worlds greatest challenges. 13 times author of the Codex of the Future series, Matthew is an in demand international keynote, acclaimed university lecturer, and host of the hit Fanatical Futurist podcast.

A rare talent in his past Matthew helped build and run several multi-billion dollar business units for Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, and his ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77+ governments, and many of the world's most respected brands including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Disney, EY, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Pepsi Co, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, and many others. He was also the only futurist invited to talk at the UN COP28 held in Dubai alongside world leaders.

Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.