AI workshop helps Indian seniors break the language barrier

Hosted by India Association of North Texas and Vibha Dallas, workshop featured cutting-edge technology to help Indian seniors ‘speak’ English

By DesiMax Wire

India Association of North Texas (IANT) and Vibha Dallas, a volunteer-driven non-profit organization helping underprivileged children, hosted an AI workshop to help Indian seniors break the language barrier.

During the workshop, the seniors recorded messages to their grandchildren and had them translated into English using an AI tool. Many attendees expressed surprise and shock as they saw themselves “speaking” in fluent English for the first time.

Youth volunteers also joined in on the fun by recording video messages for their grandparents in English and translated them to Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Tamil, according to a media release.

Held at the Shubham Event Center, the June 15 event was sponsored by McDonald’s, which recently launched SweetConnections.ai, an AI-powered website that can translate personal video messages into 31 languages.

The site features cutting-edge voice cloning and lip syncing technology to make the user look and sound as if they’re speaking a new language.

The event was part of a series of AI workshops that McDonald’s has held at various community centers across the country to promote the Sweet Connections campaign.

“I was very excited to hear about this innovative McDonald’s Grandma McFlurry event as it resonated with me as a grandma and with IANT’s ideology,” said Sushma Malhotra, the president of India Association of North Texas.

“As a grandma to a two-and-a-half-year-old boy who does not speak Hindi or Punjabi, I would love to be able to convey my message to him through AI and for him to be able to learn and understand the sentiments of a grandparent.”

“We at Vibha are very excited to be part of this fun engaging event where our youth are getting the opportunity to create a seamless communication channel with our loved senior citizens through AI technology,” said Archana Turaga, Executive Director, Vibha Dallas.

“We thank McDonald’s for making this opportunity available to us and congratulate them in launching the Grandma Mcflurry in such a unique way where they are giving back to the community. Vibha is a non-profit organization that believes in providing high-quality education to every child and as an organization we strive to make a local impact in our community!”

IANT, a non-profit organization has been serving the community for more than 62 years, with a purpose to keep the community connected to its roots and create a sense of belonging in a home away from home, according to the release.