Google Puts Captions on YouTube Videos

By Dena Cassella Published November 19, 2009

Think of it as closed captioning for the new media world.

Google Inc. said Thursday it is beginning to add automatic, machine-generated captions for videos on its YouTube site. The new service is intended to make online videos accessible to the deaf and hearing-impaired.

Recommended Videos

Hundreds of thousands of videos on Google sites already contain caption tracks that users have created and added manually with Google’s existing captioning service. But with 20 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, most videos on the site still lack captions.

So Google is tapping into the speech-recognition technology that it uses for its Google Voice call management service to make captions an automatic feature on YouTube.

Dena Cassella

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Haole built. O'ahu grown

Topics

Computing

South Korea wants to give every citizen free, unlimited access to its own AI chatbot

The government-backed service could turn generative AI into public infrastructure instead of another monthly subscription

South Korea wants to give every citizen free access to an AI chatbot with no usage limits. That puts the technology closer to a public utility than another premium service demanding a monthly subscription.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the AI for Everyone project on July 13. Private companies will build the platform around locally developed models, while a separate AI agent will help people navigate government services. It’s a more practical job than generating emails or settling arguments nobody wanted to research themselves.

Computing

Falling in love with a chatbot is now off limits for kids in China

The crackdown targets emotional AI relationships as regulators worry about the country's record low birthrate.

Replika AI companion app on an iPhone in hand

Ever since AI chatbots arrived on the scene, there has been one aspect that has worried lawmakers and experts a lot: humans forming emotional connections with chatbots. There have been plenty of cases where over-reliance on these AI companions or partners has resulted in medical emergencies, lost lives, and triggered multiple lawsuits against the likes of OpenAI and Meta.

China cracks down on AI companion apps

Computing

Russian hackers keep finding their way into critical networks through neglected routers

A multinational warning says outdated firmware, weak passwords, and insecure settings are giving state-backed attackers an easy opening

Russian state-backed hackers have spent more than a decade exploiting a stubborn weakness in critical infrastructure networks. Organizations are still leaving poorly configured and outdated routers exposed to the internet.

In a joint cybersecurity advisory, the NSA, CISA, FBI, and international partners warn that hackers linked to Center 16 of Russia’s Federal Security Service are continuing to target vulnerable networking equipment. Energy, healthcare, and government networks are among the sectors facing the highest risk.