First discovered by Android Police, Google has since confirmed to TechCrunch that the app is a pilot project and was quietly launched on Google Play. Basically the app will ask users what kind of languages they might be fluent in, and based on that Google will ask them to perform certain translations, such as image transcription, handwriting recognition, and more.
Oddly enough there does not appear to be any kind of incentive to help Google out with translations or transcriptions. This is weird given that Google already offers users rewards through its Google Opinion Awards program, but according to Google, they believe that users will help out anyway knowing that they will be making the internet a better place.
It’s an interesting approach and we’ll have to wait and see how effective this will be. If you are interested you can download the app via the Google Play Store, and we should note that right now, the app is only available for Android and it does not appear that there are plans for an iOS version yet.