Google strengthens the engine behind Translate while OpenAI bets on ChatGPT’s translator
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AI translation is evolving beyond technical improvements into a strategic question of placement, as both OpenAI and Google’s latest moves reflect this shift, revealing sharply different approaches to the same problem of providing accurate translations.
Google is taking it a notch ahead with the launch of TranslateGemma, a new collection of open translation models built on Gemma 3, available in 4B, 12B, and 27B parameter sizes. It represents a significant step forward in open translation, helping people communicate across 55 languages, irrespective of devices. The 4B Model is for mobile and edge deployment, the 12B Model for consumer laptops, and the 27B Model is for running on a single H100 GPU or TPU in the cloud.
“For developers, this is a massive win. You can achieve high-fidelity translation quality using less than half the parameters of the baseline model. This efficiency breakthrough allows for higher throughput and lower latency without sacrificing accuracy. Similarly, the 4B model rivals the performance of the larger 12B baseline, making it a powerful model for mobile inference,” the blog read.
Google has tested and evaluated TranslateGemma on 55 language pairs to ensure reliable, high-quality performance across major languages (such as Spanish, French, Chinese, and Hindi) as well as many low-resource languages. TranslateGemma considerably reduced the error rate compared to the baseline Gemma model in all languages, achieving improved quality with greater efficiency.
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OpenAI challenges Google Translate
OpenAI rolled out the Translate feature quietly, which is a different platform, and can be accessed through chatgpt.com/translate. As per the website, the platform can help translate across 50+ languages instantly. Text, voice, or images can be translated, “with accuracy that captures meaning, not just words,” the website notes.
ChatGPT says that it can translate in seconds, keeping context and tone consistent with the request, while one can continue on the same chat to ask follow-up questions, refine phrasing, or switch languages. The company notes that for students and language learners, this feature can help practice new languages, check understanding, and get grammar help explained in plain language.
The company said that this platform would also be helpful for travellers and explorers, to translate signs, menus, and for professionals and creators to write and translate across languages.
In the meantime, Google Translate has had these features for years, and Gemini has just added a number of new features. Google recently released a beta version of a new feature called Live Speech-to-Speech Translation, which allows the app to function as a live translator when connected to headphones. The AI preserves the original speaker's tone, emphasis, and rhythm while translating the speech in real time.