On September 23, 2024, Google announced the development of a new real-time translation API for its Chrome browser, utilizing artificial intelligence to enhance user experience. According to reports from Technoc and Bleeping Computer, this machine learning-based API aims to provide highly accurate translations of input text and web pages.
While browsers like Chrome and Edge already have built-in translation capabilities, they face limitations when dealing with complex and interactive web pages, particularly those with dynamic content. Google's new JavaScript API simplifies the translation process for developers, enabling them to easily integrate translation features into their websites.
Google emphasizes that the new API will leverage Chrome's internal translation engine to ensure accurate translations, automatically downloading the necessary machine learning models when required. However, this development raises significant privacy concerns, as user data could be collected based on browser language settings and access status, potentially leading to online tracking.
Developers have suggested various technical solutions to mitigate these privacy issues, such as grouping language packs to reduce data volume or displaying a limited selection of languages based on user location. The new API allows developers to maintain control over the translation process, choosing whether to perform translations locally or via cloud services, ensuring that sensitive data is not sent to third-party servers. A specific launch date for this feature has yet to be announced.