Friendly ping on this thread, any other input regarding shipping the Translator API? Thanks!
On Thu, Jun 5, 2025 at 9:54 AM Yoav Weiss (@Shopify) <yoavwe...@chromium.org> wrote: > LGTM2 > > There's some risk here with developers persisting the output of the API, > which quality may vary depending on the current browser implementation. > At the same time, it does seem like a useful feature for in-line instant > translations to languages the content author hasn't predicted. > It'd be good to have the feature's documentation warn developers against > the risks, but I wouldn't consider them compat/interop risks. > > On Thu, Jun 5, 2025 at 3:49 PM Mike Taylor <miketa...@chromium.org> wrote: > >> LGTM1 - the team has demonstrated a clear demand for this type of >> feature. I look forward to Mozilla shipping an alternate proposal - it >> seems to me that it's complementary and not in conflict with us shipping >> Translator now. >> On 6/3/25 10:27 AM, Mike Taylor wrote: >> >> On 6/3/25 9:27 AM, 'Kagami Rosylight' via blink-dev wrote: >> >> > They haven’t given any negative signals on our proposed Translator API >> (nor official positive ones). >> >> You can consider Mozilla to be negative here. We plan to make it more >> clear in our counterproposal why we think it's better. >> >> If you're speaking on behalf of Mozilla, can you please also comment that >> on https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/1015? >> >> >> On Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 12:07:35 AM UTC+2 dbo...@chromium.org wrote: >> >>> Contact emails >>> >>> dom...@chromium.org, kenji...@chromium.org, ay...@chromium.org, >>> mem...@chromium.org, chris...@chromium.org >>> >>> Explainer >>> >>> https://github.com/webmachinelearning/translation-api/blob/main/README.md >>> >>> Specification >>> >>> https://webmachinelearning.github.io/translation-api/#translator-api >>> >>> Summary >>> >>> A JavaScript API to provide language translation capabilities to web >>> pages. Browsers are increasingly offering language translation to their >>> users. Such translation capabilities can also be useful to web developers. >>> This is especially the case when browser's built-in translation abilities >>> cannot help. An enterprise policy (GenAILocalFoundationalModelSettings) is >>> available to disable the underlying model downloading which would render >>> this API unavailable. >>> >>> Blink component >>> >>> Blink>AI>Translate >>> <https://issues.chromium.org/issues?q=customfield1222907:%22Blink%3EAI%3ETranslate%22> >>> >>> TAG review >>> >>> https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/948 >>> >>> TAG review status >>> >>> Issues addressed >>> TAG’s main feedback was on API naming, which has been addressed. >>> >>> Origin Trial Name >>> >>> Translator API >>> >>> Chromium Trial Name >>> >>> TranslationAPI >>> >>> Origin Trial documentation link >>> >>> https://developer.chrome.com/docs/ai/translator-api >>> >>> WebFeature UseCounter name >>> >>> kTranslator_Translate >>> >>> Risks >>> Interoperability and Compatibility >>> >>> This feature has definite interoperability risks, including which >>> languages are available across different browsers, how they are exposed, >>> the quality of translations, and whether developers need the translations >>> to be on-device or not. We can ameliorate some of these through API design, >>> by making it clear that various methods might fail and that a fallback is >>> required. Others, like translation quality, may end up as >>> quality-of-implementation issues, similar to other machine learning-based >>> APIs like shape detection. >>> >>> Gecko: No signal ( >>> https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/1015) >>> >>> Mozilla has published an alternate Translation API explainer >>> <https://github.com/mozilla/explainers/blob/main/translation.md>. We >>> have had ongoing discussions with Mozilla, both on-off and in the WebML >>> Community Group about this subject. However the status of their proposal is >>> unclear, as it hasn’t been presented to any community group or working >>> group. When previously asking their WebML CG representative about it, they >>> said they were monitoring the space and weren’t yet ready to present an >>> alternative. They haven’t given any negative signals on our proposed >>> Translator API (nor official positive ones). >>> >>> It is also worth noting that the mozilla/explainers proposal is strictly >>> less powerful than the WebML CG one we are developing. That is, theirs can >>> be polyfilled on top of ours, but not vice-versa. So if the proposal got >>> traction in the future, we could add it as well, either natively or via a >>> JavaScript polyfill. >>> >>> Additionally, some of the use cases that our partners have used the >>> translator API for during the Origin Trial are not possible with the >>> mozilla/explainers proposal. Some examples: >>> >>> >>> - >>> >>> Translating audio, in conjunction with web speech API for speech >>> recognition and generation >>> - >>> >>> Translating user search terms, including translating them away from >>> the user’s preferred language (E.g. prompting a Spanish speaking user on >>> an >>> English e-commerce site with: “You entered ‘zapatos’. Did you mean to >>> search for ‘shoes’?”) >>> >>> >>> WebKit: No signal ( >>> https://github.com/WebKit/standards-positions/issues/339) >>> >>> Web developers: Positive (https://github.com/WICG/proposals/issues/147 >>> )Perhaps >>> >>> Origin Trial signups have been 5x higher than what we see from typical >>> Origin Trials, suggesting a lot of developer and partner interest. The >>> survey conducted during the Origin Trial in February 2025 shows positive >>> quantitative feedback [1], and third-party partners have utilized the API >>> for various use cases [2]. >>> >>> [1] >>> https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DhFC2oB4PRrchavxUY3h9U4w4hrX5DAc5LoMqhn5hnk/mobilepresent?slide=id.g349a9ada368_1_6327 >>> [2] https://developer.chrome.com/blog/pb-jiohotstar-translation-ai >>> >>> Other signals: >>> >>> Activation >>> >>> This feature would definitely benefit from having polyfills, backed by >>> any of: cloud services, lazily-loaded on-device models using WebGPU, or the >>> web developer's own server. We anticipate seeing an ecosystem of such >>> polyfills grow as more developers experiment with this API. >>> >>> >>> WebView application risks >>> >>> Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such >>> that it has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications? >>> >>> None >>> >>> >>> Debuggability >>> >>> We have internal debugging pages which give web developers detail on >>> installed language packs, e.g. chrome://on-device-translation-internals/, >>> which may eventually be suitable to port to DevTools. >>> >>> >>> Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, Mac, >>> Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)? >>> >>> No, the initial launch focuses on desktop. In particular Windows, Mac >>> and Linux. However we plan to expand support to the rest of the platforms >>> in the future. >>> >>> Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests >>> <https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/testing/web_platform_tests.md> >>> ? >>> >>> We have added some web platform test coverage for this feature ( >>> https://wpt.fyi/results/ai/translator?label=experimental&label=master&aligned). >>> How much we are able to test beyond the surface API is unclear, since no >>> specific languages are guaranteed to be supported. >>> >>> Flag name on about://flags >>> >>> translation-api >>> >>> Finch feature name >>> >>> TranslationAPI >>> >>> Rollout plan >>> >>> Will ship enabled for all users >>> >>> Requires code in //chrome? >>> >>> True >>> >>> Tracking bug >>> >>> https://issues.chromium.org/issues/322229993 >>> >>> Launch bug >>> >>> https://launch.corp.google.com/launch/4317965 >>> >>> Measurement >>> >>> kTranslator_Create >>> >>> Estimated milestones >>> >>> Shipping on desktop >>> >>> 138 >>> >>> Origin trial desktop first >>> >>> 131 >>> >>> Origin trial desktop last >>> >>> 136 >>> >>> Origin trial extension 1 end milestone >>> >>> 138 >>> >>> Anticipated spec changes >>> >>> Open questions about a feature may be a source of future web compat or >>> interop issues. Please list open issues (e.g. links to known github issues >>> in the project for the feature specification) whose resolution may >>> introduce web compat/interop risk (e.g., changing to naming or structure of >>> the API in a non-backward-compatible way). >>> >>> None >>> >>> Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status >>> >>> https://chromestatus.com/feature/5172811302961152?gate=5141071125544960 >>> >>> Links to previous Intent discussions >>> >>> Intent to Prototype: >>> https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/2a9d154a-dc97-495b-afda-ba643712116bn%40chromium.org >>> >>> Intent to Experiment: >>> https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/CAM0wra9ArjjD0u%3DpFs1W_5%3DcMk49JXs5ObQ15dNHCHt3TKSW3g%40mail.gmail.com >>> >>> Intent to Extend Experiment 1: >>> https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/CAO4d-SsJ_U1RBpV-sMQEACqVkWnA_R3Y%3Dk19noGCE70sPV2yAA%40mail.gmail.com >>> >>> This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status >>> <https://chromestatus.com/>. >>> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "blink-dev" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to blink-dev+unsubscr...@chromium.org. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/37426513-b602-4fb0-b2be-48d3a667f108n%40chromium.org >> <https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/37426513-b602-4fb0-b2be-48d3a667f108n%40chromium.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "blink-dev" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to blink-dev+unsubscr...@chromium.org. >> To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/dcea9895-d157-4716-9e95-f0a69edf96e3%40chromium.org >> <https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/msgid/blink-dev/dcea9895-d157-4716-9e95-f0a69edf96e3%40chromium.org?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "chrome-chia" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to chrome-chia+unsubscr...@google.com. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/a/google.com/d/msgid/chrome-chia/CAOmohSKOUDQ1tzfTjFstSDN8EagftXZYbEvdMa2b5f7HxpA4qw%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/a/google.com/d/msgid/chrome-chia/CAOmohSKOUDQ1tzfTjFstSDN8EagftXZYbEvdMa2b5f7HxpA4qw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "blink-dev" group. 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