SlatorPod

Thordur Arnason, Global AI GTM Lead at Capgemini Invent, joins SlatorPod to talk about how the consulting giant is embracing language AI through BabelSpeak, its new real-time AI speech translation platform.

Thordur explains that the idea emerged from Capgemini’s AI Futures Lab while researching multimodal AI. Inspired by Meta’s launch of the Seamless M4T model, the team set out to tackle the hard problem of live AI speech translation.

He notes that early pilots with DNB Bank, the Norwegian Red Cross, and the Norwegian Police tested BabelSpeak in critical situations — from refugee banking access to emergency communication.

Thordur highlights Capgemini’s partnerships with Nvidia and Telenor, saying Nvidia provides the AI hardware and models, while Telenor’s sovereign AI infrastructure ensures security, GDPR compliance, and data sovereignty.

He emphasizes that BabelSpeak’s reliability comes not just from AI models but from engineering precision, reducing latency from three seconds to under 300 milliseconds.

Thordur discusses Capgemini’s exploration of agentic AI, where autonomous systems perceive, reason, and act independently. He describes how the company built an “Agentic Workbench” to help non-technical users experiment with AI agents safely and sees BabelSpeak as a potential tool within larger agentic systems.

He concludes that Capgemini is expanding BabelSpeak into a broader suite of language tools, combining secure AI infrastructure with advanced multilingual communication for enterprise and government clients.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with congratulations to Villam Language Services on its sale to InAnyLanguage. Slator served as joint exclusive advisor with Maveria Advisory, representing Villam throughout the end-to-end M&A process.

The duo turns to Perplexity’s Localization Manager job posting, which they found almost identical to OpenAI’s earlier post, down to matching structure, order, and phrasing. They question whether copying such a specific ad shows a lack of seriousness or simply reflects practicality and efficiency.

Esther and Florian talk about RWS's new leadership hires: Stephen Lamb as Chief Financial Officer and Michael Wayne as Head of Media and Entertainment. Esther outlines how the appointments strengthen RWS’s investment strategy in media localization, dubbing, and content adaptation.

Esther next mentions that Visual Data has named Maz Al-Jumaili as SVP of Worldwide Localization, to lead subtitling and dubbing operations and strengthen client partnerships.

The duo wrap up with the UK government’s bizarre energy-efficiency study, claiming AI translation is a thousand times greener than human translation. They review the flawed logic, where the report assigns human translators the entire office energy costs while excluding AI infrastructure.

Tom Bridges, CEO and Founder of CaptionHub, joins SlatorPod to talk about how a small in-house tool evolved into a global AI-powered multimedia localization platform. 

Tom began his career in post-production and visual effects before stumbling into subtitling when a client needed to localize a video into 16 languages overnight. He reveals that the disorganized workflows relying on spreadsheets inspired him to create a more efficient, centralized solution, which became CaptionHub.

Tom explains that CaptionHub has since grown from a subtitling tool into a full multimedia localization platform integrating speech recognition, machine translation, and synthetic voice. He adds that the platform’s strength lies in being AI-agnostic and offering end-to-end workflows that balance automation with human-in-the-loop processes.

Tom describes how CaptionHub’s new product suite, Timbra, enables real-time media localization and has already supported major live events. He says live captioning is technically complex but benefits from the company’s years of research into video-on-demand subtitling quality.

Tom notes that accessibility regulations like the European Accessibility Act are driving demand, while AI and language models are opening new frontiers such as lip-sync and sign-language integration. 

Tom envisions a future where speech-to-speech translation, synthetic dubbing, and real-time localization merge into seamless, scalable experiences. CaptionHub’s mission remains to make multimedia communication universally accessible and efficient through human and AI collaboration.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the week, with breaking news that DeepL is reportedly exploring an initial public offering (IPO) in the US at a potential USD 5bn valuation. This comes as DeepL now positions itself as a “global AI product and research company”. Florian also notes the launch of DeepL Marketplace and the appointment of Gonçalo Gaiolas as Chief Product Officer.

Florian opens with the first-ever Slator Award at ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, where Guy Ratnitsky won for his thesis on data security and confidentiality in AI. The program will soon be renamed MA in Multilingual Communication Management to reflect market realities.

The duo turns to Anthropic’s new Economic Index, which shows translators and interpreters make up 0.63% of Claude AI usage, while OpenAI data previously showed translation-related conversations at 4.5%. 

Florian unpacks comments from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who, during a visit to Spain, suggested AI could replace EU interpreters in the medium term. He explains that Spain is pushing for Catalan, Basque, and Galician to become official EU languages, but Merz cited translation workload and complexity.

Florian and Esther then run through live AI speech translation updates: Zoom’s in-house rollout, Apple’s AirPods, Google’s translation features, Microsoft’s API, and Meta’s Ray-Bans.

In Esther’s M&A corner, she reports on Bering Lab’s acquisition of Intersphere in Korea and Iyuno’s partnership with Motion Picture Solutions in the UK for a film localization pipeline. Meanwhile, Testronic secured funding to scale down in some locations while expanding in Manila as a hub for QA testing and localization.

Slator’s Senior Research Analyst Alex Edwards joins Esther and Florian on the pod to discuss ElevenLabs’ move from a pure-play language technology platform (LTP) to becoming a language solutions integrator (LSI) by adding a managed service offering.

He outlines that the LSI will now offer managed services such as dubbing, transcription, and subtitling, hiring in-house linguists and vendor managers, while charging about USD 22 per minute for dubbing.

Florian then turns to YouTube’s rollout of multi-language audio tracks, which allows some creators to upload high-quality audio directly to videos and opens major opportunities for AI dubbing providers. 

The discussion shifts to OpenAI’s research on ChatGPT usage, reporting that translation accounted for 4.5% of more than a million sampled conversations, underscoring massive global demand for AI translation.

Esther highlights Microsoft’s launch of its Live Interpreter API, which promises real-time speech translation with “human interpreter level latency”. Esther also details Mistral’s USD 2bn funding to advance European AI capabilities, allowing them to compete with US and Chinese AI giants. Esther closes by reporting on WIPO’s new Korean-English post-editing tender.

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the past few weeks, beginning with a recap of SlatorCon Silicon Valley 2025, where the duo noted strong localization buyer and user turnout, and tech-focused discussions across presentations and panels.

One key highlight was Cohere’s well-timed launch of Command A Translate, which allowed Kelly Marchisio to share details on building multilingual LLMs. Esther notes that Cohere’s multilingual models focus on high-quality coverage of about 20 languages rather than attempting hundreds.

Florian turns to the Apertus launch in Switzerland, where EPFL, ETH Zurich, and the Swiss Supercomputing Centre released a multilingual model trained on over 15 trillion tokens and covering more than 1,000 languages, including Swiss German and Romansh.

Esther reveals that Middlebury Institute will phase out its graduate translation and interpretation programs by 2027, marking the loss of a key training ground.

Esther reports on TransPerfect’s acquisition of Unbabel, with plans to integrate its AI tools, such as TowerLLM and EuroVLM, into GlobalLink, while CEO Vasco Pedro will stay briefly during the transition. 

Florian outlines Apple’s launch of AirPod Pro 3 with live AI translation and Google’s new Gemini-powered updates for AI live speech translation.

Esther concludes with the Inc. 5000 rankings, highlighting 11 language industry companies. She highlights Propio, Boostlingo, and CQ Fluency as repeat entrants, with Propio topping the list but also announcing job cuts following its acquisition of CyraCom.

Dipak Patel, CEO of GLOBO, joins SlatorPod to talk about his journey into language services and the challenges and opportunities of integrating AI into healthcare communication.

Dipak explains that his career began in consulting and private equity, but a personal experience with his mother’s healthcare highlighted the importance of interpretation services and led him to GLOBO.

The CEO emphasizes that since 2020, GLOBO has doubled down on healthcare, embraced AI and large language models, and addressed the mounting pressures of clinician shortages and aging populations. 

Dipak gives an overview of GLOBO’s platforms: HQ provides backend data and reporting, Connect enables access to interpreters through mobile devices, and KAI is the company’s AI interpreter, which is undergoing pilots across US hospitals.

Dipak cautions that AI cannot replace expert interpreters in all situations as interpreters serve as more than simple conduits; they clarify meaning, act as cultural brokers, and advocate for patients. He believes the near-term role of AI is filling gaps in the patient journey where interpretation currently does not happen.

Dipak details how GLOBO is using AI to monitor interpreter quality in real time, checking professionalism, background noise, and accuracy. He stresses that security, data protection, and careful testing are crucial to AI adoption in healthcare.

Dipak reflects on the growth of GLOBO, attributing it to a strong team and relentless focus on innovation. He concludes that while AI will play a bigger role in the next decades, the key lies in balancing it with human expertise.

Gayatri Shahane, Founder and CEO of early-stage startup Naitiv, joins SlatorPod to talk about her entrepreneurial journey and building a conversational AI tool for business communication.

Gayatri describes how Naitiv’s conversational AI agent is built as a desktop app to manage latency and audio challenges in live interpretation. She explains that it supports different conversation modes for casual and professional contexts, with a voice orchestration engine developed to handle turn-taking, speaker overlaps, and multiple languages.

The Founder recalls testing the technology in live Discord language-learning channels, where she conversed with Spanish, Korean, and Japanese speakers who often did not realize they were speaking with an AI.

She highlights that her early adopters include B2B companies expanding into Asia, Latin America, and Europe, using the platform for sales, onboarding, and critical client meetings. 

Gayatri acknowledges the competitive market in real-time AI interpreting, but believes there is space for smaller, more specialized tools. She adds that marketing has so far been founder-led and organic.

Gayatri concludes by sharing her plans to raise a pre-seed round and evolve Naitiv beyond meetings into a full AI agent.

Rick Woyde, Co-Founder of Pairaphrase, joins SlatorPod to talk about his entrepreneurial journey co-founding a language technology platform (LTP) focused on simplicity and accessibility.

Rick describes identifying early adoption of Google Translate among businesses and spotting a gap for a platform that served both non-technical users and professionals without the complexity of traditional LTP tools.

The Co-Founder highlights that Pairaphrase now serves diverse clients, from US schools translating educational documents to corporations managing multilingual content, with SaaS-based offerings and annual subscriptions.

He outlines how the AI boom has expanded the market for translation software and how Pairaphrase integrates generative AI to enable file translation via ChatGPT, custom GPT models, and prompt-based original content creation. 

Rick emphasizes the growing importance of language variety, the flexibility of LLMs, and the ability to quickly meet niche language requests. He also discusses the challenge of adding features without overcomplicating the UI, prioritizing automation of complex tasks in the background.

The Co-Founder shares how Pairaphrase grew largely under the radar through SEO and content marketing before expanding its marketing team. He acknowledges challenges from changes in Google’s search landscape and notes growing referrals from AI tools like ChatGPT.

Rick closes by previewing upcoming developments, including a proprietary GPT designed to deliver high-quality, customizable translations and the launch of a mobile real-time speech translation app.

Slator’s Head of Research Anna Wyndham joins Florian on the pod to discuss Microsoft’s research paper “Working with AI: Measuring the Occupational Implications of Generative AI”, a study that stirred significant debate across social media.

The paper, based on 200,000 anonymized Microsoft Copilot interactions, aims to understand what tasks people ask AI to perform and how effectively those tasks are completed. Pairing this with the US O*NET database of occupational tasks, researchers created an "AI applicability score" to assess overlap between AI-capable tasks and real-world job functions.

Anna emphasizes that the researchers distinguish between AI performing individual tasks and full jobs. Even the most affected roles, like interpreters and translators, show only partial overlap, around 50%, with activities AI can complete.

Florian and Anna stress that the research does not claim AI will replace top-ranked occupations. Rather, it shows where AI is most often helpful, with knowledge-based activities like writing, summarizing, and gathering information topping the list. 

The Microsoft researchers also acknowledge key limitations. For example, jobs are more than bundles of disconnected tasks; they involve context, judgment, and synthesis, often referred to as the "glue" that AI lacks. Additionally, Anna points out that Copilot’s integration into tools used by knowledge workers may bias the results in its favor.

Ultimately, the duo agree the paper validates what’s already known: AI is helpful for language-related tasks, but not transformational enough yet to supplant the people who perform them.