Lilt, the leading AI solution for enterprise translation, is proud to provide the AI-powered technology behind a new experimental language translation website by NOAA and the National Weather Service. Over the past two years, Lilt has partnered with the NWS to deliver more accurate translations of weather forecasts and alerts, with the NWS reporting that Lilt reduced the time required for forecasters to translate the National Hurricane Center storm products by over 83% (from one hour to less than 10 minutes).
The NWS has developed and tested a process to rapidly and cost-effectively produce accurate, fine-tuned translations for any major language, including languages that the NWS has never supported at scale before.
“From day one, Lilt has been on a mission to make the world’s information available to everyone, irrespective of language,” said Lilt CEO Spence Green. “We believe that language should never be a barrier to survival. We could not be more proud and aligned with the National Weather Service to ensure that all people have access to lifesaving weather warnings and forecasts.”
The NWS forecasters have been working with Lilt over the past two years through a series of pilot projects to provide the most accurate weather, water and climate terminology in Spanish and Simplified Chinese, the most common non-English languages in the United States. Samoan and Vietnamese are next on the roadmap followed by more languages in the future. Phase one of the NWS Experimental AI Language Translation Project launched today with a new multilingual website providing translated weather products, a hazards map and numerous outreach infographics to better inform low English proficiency communities about the weather and preparedness. The website is open for public comment through September 29, 2024.
“This language translation project will improve our service equity to traditionally underserved and vulnerable populations that have limited English proficiency,” said Ken Graham, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “By providing weather forecasts and warnings in multiple languages, the NWS will improve community and individual readiness and resilience as climate change drives more extreme weather events.”