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.

Sony Aims to Improve AI Translation for Indian Language Entertainment Content

In an December 29, 2024 paper by Sony Research India researchers Pratik Rakesh Singh, Mohammadi Zaki, and Pankaj Wasnik comes a framework specifically designed to "improve entertainment content translations" in Indian languages.

They "believe it is the first of its kind," using an amalgamation of context awareness along with style adaptation to produce not only accurate translations but also entertaining for the targeted audience.

The researchers explained that traditional machine translation MT systems usually struggle to handle entertainment content because they mostly translate sentences in isolation. It leads to "disconnected" translations that can't really capture the emotional depth or cultural references behind the original dialogue. This has a particular pronounced effect in entertainment, where all these interconnected conversations and subtle cues in the narrative are so vital.

The challenge, in entertainment translation, lies in preserving the context, mood, and style of the original content while also including creativity and considerations of regional dialects, idioms, and other linguistic nuances," researchers explained.

To tackle this challenge, the researchers developed CASAT: the Context and Style Aware Translation, which combines the two concepts during the translation process.

The CASAT framework starts with segmenting the input text — like dialogues from movies or series — into smaller sections known as "sessions." Sessions are dialogues that are consistent in their genre or mood, such as comedy or drama. This segmentation allows CASAT to focus on the specific emotional and narrative elements of each session.

For every session, CASAT estimates two critical components: context and style. The former is said to be the narrative framework that wraps the dialogue, while the latter denotes the emotional tone and cultural nuances, like seriousness, excitement, or even humor. Understanding these, the framework will be able to make translations that effectively reach the deep recesses of the target audience's psyche.

To facilitate this, CASAT adopts a context retrieval module that gets relevant scenes or dialogues based on the relevant vector database retrieved, so this translation is grounded in appropriate narrative frameworks, and it applies a domain adaptation module to infer insights from sessions and sentences-based dialogues to realize the intended emotion tone and the intent.

Once the context and style are estimated, CASAT generates a customized prompt that is a combination of these elements. The customized prompt is then passed to an LLM that generates translations not only accurate but also carrying the intended emotional tone and cultural nuances of the original content.

Superior Performance

Metrics for CASAT's effectiveness, such as COMET scores and win ratios, have been used to test its performance. CASAT, on the other hand, surpassed baseline LLMs and MT systems like IndicTrans2 and NLLB, providing much better translations in terms of content and context.

"Our method exhibits superior performance by consistently incorporating plot and style information compared to directly prompting creativity in LLMs," the researchers said.

They found that context alone substantially improves translation quality, while including style alone has a minimal improvement. Combining the two improves quality the most.

The researchers noted that CASAT is language and model-agnostic. "Our method is both language and LLM-agnostic, making it a general-purpose tool," they concluded.

New SAG-AFTRA Game Localization Contract Restricts AI Usage in Dubbing

On November 14, 2024, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) announced an updated version of a previous agreement that covers the localization of video game projects produced in a non-English language.

With approximately 160,000 members, SAG-AFTRA calls itself the “world’s largest union representing performers and broadcasters.” The union also represents voiceover artists, including those who provide dubbing. 

As comics and gaming website Bleeding Cool reported, the new Independent Interactive Localization Agreement is essentially an updated version of the base terms from the union’s Tiered Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement, plus AI protections.

The new agreement is signed on a project-by-project basis by employers whose project was originally scripted in a language other than English, and whose intellectual property owner is based outside of the United States.

“Many brilliant, beloved games come to market in the U.S. from other countries, projects which need highly skilled localizing performers,” Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh was quoted as saying in the press release. Elmaleh added that “[m]any such companies have already signed Interim Localization Agreements”. 

The contract was reportedly crafted “based on direct feedback from the community that does this work.”

However, the introduction of the Independent Interactive Localization Agreement does not interrupt an ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

The union called for the strike, effective July 26, 2024, in response to stalled negotiations, which began in October 2022. The use of AI still presents a major hurdle, as SAG-AFTRA explained:

“Although agreements have been reached on many issues important to SAG-AFTRA members, the employers refuse to plainly affirm, in clear and enforceable language, that they will protect all performers covered by this contract in their A.I. language.”

The strike applies to over 130 video game projects currently signed to the union’s interim and independent agreements; the goal is for those signatories to sign updated agreements. 

Human-Made Recordings and Digital Replicas

The Interactive Media Agreement, originally introduced in 2017, was extended until 2022. At that point, it was replaced by the Tiered-Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement along with the Interim Interactive Media Agreement and, most recently, the Independent Interactive Localization Agreement.

Katie Sikkema, a union contracts consultant, explained on LinkedIn that the updated agreement “includes a mandatory buyout of all reuse and integration for an additional 50% of scale, which means the IP owner can use the (original, human-made) recordings for whatever they want with no further fees due (except merchandising/talking toys, which must be separately negotiated).”

The contract describes generative AI (GenAI) as a “subset of AI that learns patterns from data and then produces content based on those patterns.” 

Interestingly, GenAI is considered separate from “digital replicas” of performers, including voice actors, though the term is not defined. To that point, employers are required to provide the union advance notice if they intend to use GenAI to generate material other than digital replicas. 

Employers that want to create GenAI material using prompts including a performer’s name, or a unique character associated with that performer, must get consent from the performer and bargain for the use of GenAI material at a specific minimum rate.

SAG-AFTRA’s strikes have brought attention to the issues GenAI presents for the entertainment industry, an area ripe with opportunities for language AI startups specializing in dubbing. In March 2024, the union ratified the 2023 Television Animation Agreement, which includes “strong protections around the use of artificial intelligence” for voice acting and other performances. 

Leading Localization from Asia with EC Innovations’ Sijie Wei

Sijie Wei, Co-CEO of language services, technology, and game localization specialist EC Innovations (ECI), joins SlatorPod to talk about his new role as co-CEO and leading one of Asia’s largest LSPs with revenues exceeding USD 50m in 2023.

Sijie describes how ECI's initial focus on assisting Western blue-chip companies to enter China evolved into helping Chinese digital titans like Tencent and ByteDance extend their product offerings internationally.

Sijie emphasized the difficulties facing the Asia-Pacific market, where localization maturity in several verticals still lags behind that of the US and Europe. But as sectors like e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and electric vehicles develop, he sees enormous development potential.

Sijie noted that Chinese businesses want to create their own language AI solutions, which makes the industry extremely competitive. This study helps ECI apply state-of-the-art AI developments to client projects. 

https://youtu.be/PrJkZEWWCN0

In game localization, Sijie continues to see substantial growth potential. He recognizes that localizing games from China to global markets and vice versa is equally challenging due to differences in player preferences, monetization methods, and cultural contexts.

Sijie shared his thoughts on the financial environment, pointing out that the uncertainty surrounding the adoption of AI in several industries, such as localization, is the reason why market values are currently lower.

Sijie addressed the balance between AI and human localization knowledge in her conclusion, stressing that although AI can increase efficiency, human quality is still preferable in many situations.

Smartcat's Series C Funding, YouTube Dubs Launch, Viva Translate Closes Down

Slator- Language Industry Intelligence

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, where they give their impressions from SlatorCon Silicon Valley and touch upon the findings from the 2024 ALC Industry Survey.

In a significant funding update, Esther reports that Smartcat raised USD 43m in a Series C round, bringing their total funding to USD 70m. This funding will support product innovation in AI translation and multilingual content generation.

Florian talks about YouTube’s potential launch of AI dubbing, a feature in testing that aims to generate translated audio tracks for videos, significantly enhancing content accessibility and engagement.

In Esther’s M&A corner, Cloudbreak, now rebranded as Equiti, acquired its competitor Voyce and brought on a new private equity partner, Heritage Group. Meanwhile, EasyTranslate acquired World Translation, expanding its reach in the Nordic and DACH regions.

The duo bid farewell to publicly traded Keywords Studios, which is delisting after being acquired by private equity firm EQT. They also note the shutdown of Viva Translate, a speech-to-speech translation company that will open-source its tools as it winds down.

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.