US National Weather Service halts AI translation service
The US National Weather Service halted translations of weather alerts and products after its contract with AI translation provider Lilt expired. Experts warn that non-English speakers—68 million people in the US—may now miss potentially life-saving severe weather warnings in their preferred languages.
What happened
The National Weather Service halted translations of its weather products and alerts after its contract with AI translation provider Lilt lapsed. Lilt had provided translations in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Samoan since late 2023, replacing manual translations that the service said were labor-intensive and unsustainable.
The contract lapse occurred during budget cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under President Donald Trump's administration, which have led to high vacancy rates at NWS offices.
Reported impact
Nearly 68 million people in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home, including 42 million Spanish speakers, according to 2019 Census data. Joseph Trujillo-Falcón, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who has worked with NOAA on weather translation research, stated that not being able to read urgent weather alerts could be a matter of life or death.
Trujillo-Falcón cited a 2021 tornado outbreak in Kentucky where translated weather alerts saved lives. He described an instance where a Spanish-speaking family ignored a tornado alert in English but quickly sought shelter when the same alert came in Spanish.
Governance controls
NOAA referred questions about the contract to a message on its website announcing the contract had lapsed. NWS spokesperson Michael Musher said the service had 'paused' translations due to the contract expiration but declined to provide further comment.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
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