AI can turn text into sign language – but it’s often unintelligible

Artificial intelligence has been used to make avatars that appear capable of translating text into sign language. But one of the researchers behind the demonstration videos says they are being overhyped – and experts in Deaf culture and sign language describe the AI translations as often incomprehensible.

“We are very much in the experimental and research stages where AI is being tested,” says Melissa Malzkuhn at Gallaudet University, a university for deaf and hard of hearing students in Washington DC, who wasn’t involved in the…

Artificial intelligence has been used to make avatars that appear capable of translating text into sign language. But one of the researchers behind the demonstration videos says they are being overhyped – and experts in Deaf culture and sign language describe the AI translations as often incomprehensible.

“We are very much in the experimental and research stages where AI is being tested,” says Melissa Malzkuhn at Gallaudet University, a university for deaf and hard of hearing students in Washington DC, who wasn’t involved in the…