Natural language AI assistants are often proficient in English but struggle with other languages. However, a new AI assistant named Silvia has been developed to understand “Spanglish” – a mixture of Spanish and English. Silvia was created by Mansidak Singh, a product engineer at re:collect AI, after he realized the limitations of existing AI assistants for bilingual individuals.
Silvia is a user-friendly app that appears on the left side of your keyboard, allowing you to seamlessly switch between Spanish and English while typing. Initially, Silvia supports only Spanish and English, but additional languages such as French, Romanian, Ukrainian, German, and Dutch are set to be added soon. There will also be a custom keyboard version for non-Apple apps.
While discussing the development of Silvia, Singh mentioned that the app was built using the Translation API in iOS 18 to create separate channels for Spanish and English. Additionally, OpenAI Whisper was used for cleaning up the text, resulting in efficient and accurate transcription.
One of the key features of Silvia is that it does not store any user data, ensuring privacy and security. The app has been approved by Apple and is set to be released by the end of the month. Users can also sign up for notifications to stay informed about the app’s availability.
Unlike many AI products that claim to revolutionize the world, Silvia aims to provide a practical solution for bilingual individuals who often switch between languages. By accurately transcribing Spanglish and other language mixtures, Silvia offers a more inclusive and versatile alternative to traditional AI assistants.
As the demand for multilingual AI assistants continues to grow, Silvia represents a step towards bridging the gap between different languages and cultural backgrounds. With its innovative approach and user-friendly interface, Silvia is poised to make a positive impact on the way people communicate in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world.