The speech-to-text solution integrated with the NORDUnet Kaltura service is now supported by Artificial Intelligence.
The conversion of speech into text in the NORDUnet Kaltura on-premise service is now based on the Whisper language model from Open AI. This is good news for not only users with a hearing impairment but also for everybody else.
“The decision to use AI-based speech-to-text for Kaltura was largely motivated by an EU Directive which focusses on accessibility. However, many users will benefit. For instance, the text version of a lecture or the captions (sub-titles) will allow users to search for keywords and find the relevant passages more easily,” says Jørgen Qvist, Chief Operating Officer at NORDUnet.
The AI-based speech-to-text solution uses the Natural Languages Processing (NLP) Whisper model from Open AI, plus one additional model for each of the five Nordic languages: Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish. In addition to the five Nordic languages, four languages have been enabled initially: English, French, German and Spanish. Additional languages can be added.
Next: an interface for stand-alone services
An added benefit from the AI-based solution is improved data protection and privacy also known as GDPR compliance, Jørgen Qvist notes:
“The GDPR protection is stronger relative to the previous solution which was based on a public Cloud service. The average user will not feel any difference, but obviously this is something which institutions in the research and education community and not least their data management officers appreciate.”
While the AI-based speech-to-text solution is now operational, development at NORDUnet continues.
“Several Nordic universities operate various video-based solutions which are outside Kaltura. We are developing an interface which can accommodate speech-to-text for these stand-alone services also. We expect to be able to launch the interface sometime this autumn,” Jørgen Qvist ends.
A Service with 400,000 end users
The Kaltura platform was originally developed for lecture capturing but today goes well beyond that purpose. Next generation learning is offered to students, staff and faculty via online video solutions. Users can easily create, upload, edit, manage, and publish high quality video to any device, live or on demand.
Flipped Classroom, Distance Learning, MOOCs and SPOCs are supported by Kaltura. Other major Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Canvas, Desire2learn, Sakai, Moodle and Blackboard can be integrated into Kaltura.
The on-premise service is used by approximately 60 universities and other institutions across the Nordic region, reaching almost 400,000 end users.
