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Technology Quarterly

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What language technology can and can’t do

What language technology can and can’t do
Jan 7th, 2017

Finding a voice
What language technology can and can’t do

Computers have got much better at translation, voice recognition and speech synthesis, says Lane Greene. But they still don’t understand the meaning of language

I hear you
Speech recognition

Computers have made huge strides in understanding human speech

Hasta la vista, robot voice
Speech synthesis

Machines are starting to sound more like humans

Beyond Babel
The limits of computer translations

Machine translations have got strikingly better, but still need human input

What are you talking about?
The meaning of speech still eludes machines

Machines cannot conduct proper conversations with humans because they do not understand the world

Where humans still beat computers
Brain scan: Terry Winograd

The Winograd Schema tests computers’ “understanding” of the real world

For my next trick
Coming to grips with voice technology

Talking machines are the new must-haves

Monitor

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