Ms Elaine Grehan:

Yes, there was a trial which took place which looked at avatars. We did take a look at this trial, but again, as I talked about expression when it comes to sign languages, eyebrows have meaning, your cheeks have meaning, your lip patterns - they all have meaning. That all conveys information. When it comes to AI they do not have those features. That information is not being conveyed, especially when they are creating avatars. They have pixellated images. A lot of that information is not actually coming across. Sometimes it is completely impossible to identify that information from an avatar whereas you would understand a person signing that information to you. It is really just word for word. It is robotic rather than using the important parts of sign language, in which 70% of meaning is actually in body language and how you use your body, not just the sign. It is more focusing on words for signs, rather than the all-encompassing use of sign language, expression and body movement.

That is going to be a huge difficulty when it comes to conveying information in sign language. There is a lot of work that needs to come. We are very much just at the start. I have not seen a perfect example yet. There is no country that has created or achieved that yet. There is a lot of work to come.