Instagram Adds AI-Generated Captions to Videos

Instagram has introduced automatic captions to videos in an ongoing effort to make content more accessible. Starting today, automatic captions will be turned on by default, though users can still opt to turn the feature off. The feature is similar to TikTok’s auto-generated captions, which were introduced last April.

“It’s a long time coming, but we’re excited to share a new tool that empowers those in the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities,” Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri wrote on Twitter. “Videos on Instagram will noInstagramw have auto-generated captions, where you have the option to turn them off or on.”

It’s a long time coming, but we’re excited to share a new tool that empowers those in the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities.

Videos on Instagram will now have auto-generated captions, where you have the option to turn them off or on. pic.twitter.com/DNyzcdiPSU

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) March 1, 2022

Previously, users would have to add captions to their content in the editing phase to make it accessible to Deaf users and hard-of-hearing users. While Instagram said that the AI that auto-generates its caption won’t be perfect, it will continue to improve over time.

​​The company told TechCrunch that auto-generated captions will be available in 17 languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Vietnamese, Italian, German, Turkish, Russian, Thai, Tagalog, Urdu, Malay, Hindi, Indonesian and Japanese. Support for more languages will be rolled out soon.

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