Sinclair, Inc. will use artificial intelligence tools to provide real-time translations during some of its local television newscasts, the company announced last week.
Four Sinclair-owned stations in Baltimore, San Antonio, Las Vegas and West Palm Beach will utilize software from Deeptune to deliver the translations during live-streamed newscasts on their respective YouTube channels.
“At Sinclair, we are committed to leveraging innovative technology to expand access to local journalism,” Rob Weisbord, the Chief Operating Officer and President of Local Media at Sinclair, said in a statement. “By implementing live AI translation of our newscasts, we’re breaking down language barriers and ensuring that more viewers can engage with Sinclair’s trusted news coverage.”
Deeptune uses voice and facial recognition technology to deliver audio translations in real-time. At first, the newscasts will offer a Spanish-language audio track, but additional languages could be supported over time. A demonstration video available on the Deeptune website shows a newscast translated in Spanish, Hindi and Japanese.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Sinclair on this groundbreaking implementation of our real-time AI translation technology. This collaboration represents a significant step forward in making critical news accessible to diverse communities and demonstrates how AI can be deployed responsibly to serve the public interest,” said Tim Lupo, the founder and CEO of Deeptune.
The partnership with Deeptune marks the latest experiment involving Sinclair and its use of AI tools. Last year, the company partnered with a firm called HeyGen to deliver real-time translations of shows airing on Tennis Channel International, and the company expanded that technique during coverage of Hurricane Milton on CBS affiliate WPEC (Channel 12) in West Palm Beach.
WPEC will continue to use Deeptune’s AI tools to deliver Spanish-language translations through its YouTube channel. The other stations participating are KSNV (Channel 3, NBC) in Las Vegas, WBFF (Channel 45, Fox) in Baltimore and WOAI (Channel 4, NBC) in San Antonio.
