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AI-Powered Captioning and Interpretation for Meetings

Accessibility · Translation & Language Access

What it collects that can identify you

Biometric
Identifiable data
  • Live voice audio captured from meeting participants — spoken words processed by Wordly to generate captions and translations. Voice signals may be attributable to specific speakers in the meeting context.
Run by
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Where
No fixed location
Kept
Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with
Not stated by the Helpful Places.

What it is for

Wordly provides automated closed captioning and simultaneous interpretation services for Government of Canada employees during meetings and events. The system converts spoken language into text captions and translates speech across multiple languages in real time. It supports accessibility and multilingual communication for federal public servants. Users should be aware that their spoken audio is processed by a third-party vendor system to generate captions and translations.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Biometric
Identifiable data
  • Live voice audio captured from meeting participants — spoken words processed by Wordly to generate captions and translations. Voice signals may be attributable to specific speakers in the meeting context.

Processing

Speech & Audio
  • Wordly uses speech-to-text transcription and text-to-speech or translation pipelines to convert live spoken audio into captions and interpreted output across languages.

What it does

Sensing (Perceptive AI)
Autonomous
  • Wordly automatically senses and processes live audio from meetings, converting spoken words into structured text captions and language signals without human review of each transcription step.
Understanding (Semantic AI)
Autonomous
  • Wordly interprets the meaning and linguistic structure of captured speech in order to produce accurate simultaneous interpretations across languages in real time.

Outputs

Generated content
Anonymized data
  • Real-time closed captions (text transcriptions of speech) and simultaneous interpretation outputs displayed or delivered to meeting participants. The content is AI-generated text derived from live audio.

Run by

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
  • NSERC is the federal department that deploys and operates Wordly for its employees to support accessible and multilingual meetings and events.

Government of Canada AI Register — Wordly

Built by

Wordly
  • Wordly is the third-party vendor that builds and licenses the AI-powered closed captioning and simultaneous interpretation technology used by NSERC.

Government of Canada AI Register — Wordly

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Stored

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data
Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data
Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data
The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides
This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes
This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous
This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

  • Right to Be Informed of AI UseGC employees should be informed when Wordly is in use during a meeting or event so they are aware that their spoken audio is being processed by an AI system operated by a third-party vendor.
  • Right to Algorithmic TransparencyEmployees may seek information about how Wordly's AI processes speech and produces captions or interpretations by contacting NSERC. The system is documented in the Government of Canada AI Register.

Risks and safeguards

No risks or safeguards have been published for this system yet.