Meta AI Adds Real-Time Reels Translation

Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has expanded its AI capabilities to make short-form video content more accessible across language barriers, Azernews reports, citing foreign media.

The company has rolled out enhanced AI-powered translations and lip-syncing for Reels, Instagram's short video format, now supporting a wider range of languages. These include Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and Kannada, in addition to previously available English, Hindi, Portuguese, and Spanish.

According to Meta's blog post, the update uses neural machine translation models alongside both on-device and cloud-based AI systems. The technology generates dubbed audio and real-time captions, automatically suggesting them to viewers when the language of a Reel differs from the language set on their device. Beyond traditional subtitles, the AI recreates the creator's voice in the translated language and synchronizes mouth movements, making it appear as though the creator is speaking the new language naturally.

Meta says the feature is designed to foster cross-cultural engagement, allowing users to discover content“no matter where it was created or what language it was filmed in.” Early feedback from creators suggests that the expanded language support has already significantly broadened the reach of their videos.

The translation and lip-sync tools are free to use, available to all public Instagram accounts in regions where Meta AI is active, and to Facebook creators with at least 1,000 followers.

“Many creators want to reach global audiences, and their feedback helped shape our work on translation features,” Meta wrote in the blog post.“Translations with Meta AI is just one way we're bringing the best content to audiences and finding innovative ways to connect people around the world.”

Critics, however, caution that AI translations can struggle to capture context, emotion, and cultural nuance accurately. There is also a risk of misrepresentation if the audio dub or translation is incorrect, highlighting the need for careful oversight as these tools become more widely used.

Some experts note that if perfected, this technology could redefine global content sharing, allowing creators to build truly international audiences without the traditional language barriers that have long limited reach.

MENAFN21012026000195011045ID1110631258