Nvidia Corporation, the graphics-processing giant based in California, recently unveiled a new feature called Nvidia Maxine. Nvidia Maxine is a state-of-the-art innovation that combines artificial intelligence with video-calling technology to create software that helps to perform various functions that enhance video quality and speed. It can be used as a tool for other video calling software to decrease their imprecision.
It includes many features such as automatic graphic enhancement, automatic face alignment, and automatic language translation — all services that could render the video call to be a virtually error-free event. Most importantly, the graphics enhancement feature could have far-reaching effects for under-developed areas that operate with poor bandwidth.
What is Nvidia Maxine?
Nvidia Maxine is a set of video-enhancement tools developed by Nvidia Corporation and unveiled in October 2020 at the GPU Technology Conference (a global conference organized by Nvidia to promote discussions about developments in Artificial Intelligence with the world’s best engineers, developers, and innovators in attendance). It is a revolutionary addition to the world of video transmission that corrects the inaccuracies or glitches that may arise in phone calls to a degree that could completely revamp the way we operate video calls.
Some of the features of Nvidia Maxine that are quickly drawing attention to themselves in the AI community are the ones with which it is automatically able to construct and deconstruct faces, backgrounds, noises, and even facial features.
For now, these video-calling enhancement tools are up for sale to software companies that may want to incorporate the technology into their programs, but its success could mean that the features may become widely available soon.
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What is the Nvidia’s Real-time Video Call Translation Feature?
Nvidia Maxine comes with a language translation unit that is capable of translating a video call from and to any language in a matter of seconds. This invention could prove to be incredibly beneficial for countries that conduct business matters with foreigners.
This could prove especially useful in relation to countries like China and most European ones— those that enjoy healthy trade relations with most countries but do not speak English as an official language. This will help strengthen business ties and bring about massive economic and financial changes to the countries employing it.
Another thing that sets this feature apart from other features such as Google Translate is its ability to translate conversations and its dialogues in real-time. This means that there will not be any awkward pauses in foreign video calls as a human translator launches into a roundabout translation or as someone fumbles with Google Translate to understand what is being said.
Working with foreign companies with no common language has always been a difficult task, but with the COVID-19 pandemic at the peak of its second wave, that task has become much harder with meetings being conducted in the remote form with the help of apps like Zoom and Skype. Frozen frames and glitchy voice transmissions due to slow internet connections are a common occurrence, but ones that make conducting meetings in foreign languages an uphill struggle. Nvidia Maxine is being touted as something that will help its users get rid of all of these pesky inconveniences with its real-time video call translation feature— making it an invention that could not have come at a better time.
How Does Nvidia Maxine Work?
The key component in the speed with which Nvidia Maxine translates languages spontaneously is its use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to discern speech patterns and voices to translate the sentence into the selected language in a minimal amount of time.
Nvidia’s Maxine uses something called ‘deep learning’ to achieve most of the effects provided by its tools. Deep learning is a popular type of AI learning called machine learning which was first developed in 2012 and is the technology behind most face-recognition apps, translation features, and content recommendation systems.
The tools included in Nvidia Maxine’s range thus far include converting low-resolution videos into high-resolution ones by way of AI, automatic face alignment, noise reduction, and of course, the translation feature that operates in real-time. These tools will be beneficial for people with unstable internet connections, noisy workplaces, and language barriers while conducting remote meetings.
Other than the real-time translation feature, Nvidia Maxine’s most appealing tool is its promise of decreasing the bandwidth required for smooth video transmission of high-definition images. In simple terms, the GPU giant’s newest invention works on the rationale that it is not necessary to transmit the entirety of the visual information in any video to get high-definition images on the other side. Maxine works by only sending some specific points of any image— then filling in the gaps by itself with the help of its artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Is it Worth the Hype?
Nvidia’s invention does raise some questions about the ethics of artificially manipulating video calls, citing the increase in the incidence of imposters fooling people into thinking they are family or friends and catfishing behind the doubts. Also, the debate will remain open over human vs machine translation, at least for some more days.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has limited a vast majority of the world’s population to work from home. This occurrence has led to a rapid increase in the rate of downloads that video-calling software and applications have seen in recent months. It goes to show how important a feature of video-calling and by extension, Nvidia Maxine is to the future of remote meetings and virtual office work.
Other than that, Nvidia’s status as a company that provides state-of-the-art technology to all sorts of computer users from gamers to software developers lends this venture credibility because of Nvidia corporation’s financial capability to research and mass-produce these tools for the benefit of its users.
However, something that may prove to be a point of consternation for some users may be Maxine’s need to have an Nvidia GPU for it to work. Nvidia representatives have not yet confirmed this.
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Final Words
It now remains to be seen if other video-calling giants such as Zoom and Microsoft buy Nvidia Maxine’s technology or develop some of their own to supplement their video-calling applications. With enhancements in technology around every block, it can be challenging to keep up with the times. Translation companies can help your software adjust to your consumer’s needs. They even help you localize your software in more than 100 languages.
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