Google's Project Relate won gold in Technology Innovation at The Drum Awards for Marketing for its AI-driven Android app, which personalizes speech models to help over 250 million people worldwide with non-standard speech, launched in Singapore with government and social good organizations.
Whilst voice-activated technology is common, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all product available in the market, due to the varying needs of individuals. With over 250 million people across the globe with non-standard speech, they often find it difficult to be understood.
Developed by the Google Speech and Research team, Project Relate is an Android application that leverages AI to create personalized speech models, aiming to reduce communication barriers.
Keen on amplifying the app’s reach to Singapore to drive inclusivity and promote accessibility for all, we partnered with the Singapore Government and various social good organizations (SGOs) to launch the app in the market.
With the desire to empower people with non-standard speech in Singapore, we first beta tested the app with the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) in 2023.
The app was subsequently launched on the Google Play Store in June 2024, and we expanded our outreach to other social good organizations (SGOs) in the country with users of non-standard speech.
The GoogleServe Singapore team (part of Google’s employee volunteering program) developed a train-the-trainer guide to help the SGOs and beneficiary caretakers to better understand the use case of the app, and learn how they can facilitate its use with their loved ones.
With the launch of Project Relate, we garnered the attention of the government and gained their support in expanding the reach to more Singaporeans.
Project Relate was featured in the Smart Nation Refresh 2.0 Report by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI). We also partnered with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to participate in the Digital for Life Festival, where we showcased the app’s functionalities through a sandbox and had a live demonstration of transcribing Allan, one of our beta-tester’s speech in real time.