SlatorCon Remote March 2025 Offers Essential Insights on the Language Industry and AI

 A Pinch, a Twitch, and Everything in Between: Pinch’s Christian Safka and Twitch’s Susan Maria Howard were among the top language industry leaders who joined hundreds of attendees on March 18, 2025, for the first SlatorCon Remote conference of the year.

Kicking off the day’s events, Slator’s Head of Advisory, Esther Bond, welcomed attendees and invited Managing Director Florian Faes to share the latest findings and insights in his highly anticipated 'industry health check.

In his presentation, Faes began by reflecting on the challenges of 2024. He discussed data from Slator’s 2025 Language Service Provider Index (LSPI) and highlighted the growth of interpreting-focused companies, contrasted with the struggles faced by small, undifferentiated agencies and the rapid rise of language AI, driven by companies like ElevenLabs and DeepL.

Faes also highlighted key findings from Slator’s 2025 Localization Buyer Survey, including the challenges buyers face in implementing AI and the growing need for AI partners to address inefficiencies. He also noted the mixed outlook for the industry in the year ahead.

LLMs Are Just the Beginning

The first expert presentation was delivered by Sara Papi, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler, who discussed the current state of research in simultaneous speech-to-text translation.

Papi highlighted discrepancies between the original definition and current practices in the speech translation field, identified through a review of expert literature. She specifically pointed out issues related to the use of pre-segmented speech and inconsistencies in terminology.

Slator’s Head of Research, Anna Wyndham, moderated the first panel of the day, featuring Simone Bohnenberger-Rich, Chief Product Officer at Phrase; Simon Koranter, Head of Global Production & Engineering at Compass Languages; and Matteo Nonne, Localization Program Manager at On.

The panelists discussed the evolving role of generative AI in localization, highlighting its shift from initial experimentation to scalable solutions that drive growth. They shared insights on how AI is transforming localization from a cost center into a strategic function by enabling customized, context-aware content adaptation and addressing challenges related to return on investment (ROI) and stakeholder expectations.

Slator’s Alex Edwards, Senior Research Analyst, moderated another panel discussion focused on the adoption of large language models (LLMs) for AI translation in enterprise workflows. Panelists Manuel Herranz, CEO of Pangeanic, and Bruno Bitter, CEO of Blackbird.io, explored whether LLMs truly represent the state of the art.

Herranz and Bitter emphasized that middleware and techniques like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) are more advanced, and highlighted the importance of fine-tuning smaller, domain-specific models. They also discussed the role of orchestration technology in effectively managing a range of AI tools.

In his presentation, Supertext’s CEO Samuel Läubli echoed insights shared by other speakers, emphasizing that LLMs generate fluent texts by considering broader context. He explored the implications of an AI-first era for translation, the rise of smaller competitive players, and the continued importance of human expertise.

Läubli highlighted that the new Supertext resulted from a 2024 merger between LSP Supertext and AI translation company Textshuttle. He remarked, “I’ve been working in this field for 10 years now, but I haven’t seen a system or AI agent that can guarantee a correct translation — and I’m quite sure I won’t see it in the next 10 years.”

Teresa Toronjo, Localization Manager at Malt, discussed collaboration within leaner localization teams, stressing the importance of diverse partnerships, scalable processes, and maintaining quality consistency with cost-effectiveness guided by experts.

If you missed SlatorCon Remote March 2025 in real-time, recordings will be available soon through our Pro and Enterprise plans.

AI in Interpreting: Slator Pro Guide

Slator's Pro Guide: AI in Interpreting is an absolute must-read for all providers of interpreting services and solutions. Here, the authors give a quick snapshot of what the newest applications of AI and large language models (LLMs) look like in interpreting.

This Slator Pro Guide will bring you up to speed on what value AI can bring to your company and the new interpreting workflows, service models, and speech AI capabilities now available to you.

The guide covers 10 one-page, actionable case studies-thematically designed and presented as vibrant infographics drawn from research and interviews with some of the leading interpreting service providers in the industry.

The ten use cases highlight new areas of growth, innovative models for service delivery, and novel workflows in interpretation made possible by the recent developments in LLMs, speech-to-text, and speech synthesis.

We will illustrate how AI speech translation solutions are being leveraged to open up language access across corporate, government, and healthcare settings, cutting across a wide variety of settings and service delivery models.

The guide also discusses AI as an interpreter tool and co-pilot, as well as its capability to optimize operations and extract insights from interpreted interactions.

Each use case describes the underlying concept and practical implications. An adoption and value-add score is also provided to reflect the industry's current level of uptake for the application as well as the additional value that it delivers to end clients.

We explain how the technology works and offer a brief list of leading AI solution providers currently on the market.

We expand on the new opportunities and benefits that each use case presents for interpreting stakeholders and carry out an impact analysis for the interpreting sector.

We also identify key risks and limitations to watch out for, which need to be considered in the adoption process.

The guide provides a higher-level overview of the key and impactful applications that can serve as a launching pad for stakeholders to make strategic decisions about adopting AI in interpreting technology and service models.

This Pro Guide is a must-read and time-saving briefing on how AI is revolutionizing the interpretation landscape.

Highlights from SlatorCon Silicon Valley 2024

Slator- Language Industry Intelligence

On September 5, 2024, more than 150 language industry and technology leaders gathered at Hotel Nia in Menlo Park, Silicon Valley.

The event offered a friendly and relaxed environment, encouraging networking and reconnections among participants. Attendees from over a dozen countries and four continents emphasized the importance of in-person Slator events in addition to virtual ones. The expo hall was also buzzing with activity.

Esther Bond, Head of Advisory at Slator, kicked off the event with a warm welcome, outlining the day's presentations and panels, and encouraging delegates to network and engage with each other.

Key Takeaways from SlatorCon Silicon Valley 2024

Florian Faes, Managing Director of Slator, opened the sessions by presenting key insights from Slator’s latest research on the language industry's current state. He discussed practical applications of large language models (LLMs) in localization workflows and shared predictions for the next few years.

RWS took the stage for the first presentation, with Vasagi Kothandapani and Mark Lawyer discussing the diversification of services into AI solutions. They emphasized the role of content as a driving force for digital transformation, business innovation, enhancing customer experience, corporate growth, global engagement, and market evolution.

Key Takeaways from SlatorCon Silicon Valley 2024

The day's first panel, moderated by Esther Bond, focused on investment strategies.

Andrew Doane of K1 Investment Management and Aditya Govil from VSS Capital Partners explored the influence of AI on the language technology sector, with particular emphasis on the healthcare and B2B SaaS industries. They also discussed the role of private equity in the language tech space and shared insights on strategic considerations for investments and acquisitions.

Helena Batt, who oversees localization operations for the TED Conferences, took the podium next to provide unique insights on the organization’s implementation of AI dubbing for TED Talks. Among the technical challenges encountered, Batt mentioned preserving vocal characteristics and emotional nuance, and achieving seamless lip sync.

Betting on Technology

The Language AI Stack panel, moderated by Anna Wyndham, Slator's Head of Research, featured insights from Georg Ell of Phrase and Hameed Afssari of Uber. They discussed AI as a technology stack, focusing on the practical applications of large language models (LLMs) in localization, including machine translation (MT), workflow optimization, and managing linguistic assets.

A second technology panel, led by Florian Faes, explored the interpreting field. Oddmund Braaten from Interprefy, Fardad Zabetian from KUDO, and Jeremy Woan from CyraCom International shared their perspectives on how automation transforms interpreting services.

Another panel, moderated by Alex Edwards, Slator Senior Research Analyst, offered insights on localization systems integration, global 24/7 services, and enterprise program management. Panelists included Pavel Soukenik from Acolad, Nitin Singhal from SnapLogic, and Agustín Da Fieno Delucchi from Microsoft.

Silvio Picinini from eBay Localization delivered a thought-provoking presentation, exploring two scenarios: applying AI to existing localization processes or reimagining those processes entirely, and the potential outcomes of each approach.

Florian Faes concluded the event with closing remarks, inviting attendees to join SlatorCon Remote in November 2024 or meet in person again at SlatorCon London in 2025. More detailed follow-up coverage is forthcoming.