In this episode of the Content Operations podcast, Sarah O’Keefe and Bill Swallow unpack the promise, pitfalls, and disruptive impact of AI on multilingual content. From pivot languages to content hygiene, they explore what’s next for language service providers and global enterprises alike.
Bill Swallow: I think it goes without saying that there’s going to be disruption again. Every single change, whether it’s in the localization industry or not, has resulted in some type of disruption. Something has changed. I’ll be blunt about it. In some cases, jobs were lost, jobs were replaced, new jobs were created. For LSPs, I think AI is going to, again, be another shift, the same that happened when machine translation came out. LSPs had to shift and pivot how they approach their bottom line with people. GenAI is going to take a lot of the heavy lifting off of the translators, for better or for worse, and it’s going to force a copy edit workflow. I think it’s really going to be a model where people are going to be training and cleaning up after AI.

Related links:

* Going global: Getting started with content localization
* Lessons Japan taught me about content localization strategy
* Conquering content localization: strategies for success (podcast)
* The Scriptorium approach to localization strategy
* Get monthly insights on structured content, futureproof content operations, and more with our Illuminations newsletter

LinkedIn:

* Sarah O’Keefe
* Bill Swallow

Transcript:
Introduction with ambient background music
Christine Cuellar: From Scriptorium, this is Content Operations, a show that delivers industry-leading insights for global organizations.
Bill Swallow: In the end, you have a unified experience so that people aren’t relearning how to engage with your content in every context you produce it.
Sarah O’Keefe: Change is perceived as being risky, you have to convince me that making the change is less risky than not making the change.
Alan Pringle: And at some point, you are going to have tools, technology, and process that no longer support your needs, so if you think about that ahead of time, you’re going to be much better off.
End of introduction
Sarah O’Keefe: Hey, everyone. I’m Sarah O’Keefe, and I’m here today with Bill Swallow.
Bill Swallow: Hey there.
SO: They have let us out of the basement. Mistakes were made. And we have been asked to talk to you on this podcast about AI in translation and localization. I have subtitled this podcast, What Could Possibly Go Wrong? As always, what could possibly go wrong, both in this topic and also with this particular group of people who have been given microphones. So Bill.
BS: They’ll take them away eventually.
SO: They will eventually. Bill, what’s your generalized take right now on AI in translation and localization? And I apologize in advance. We will almost certainly use those two terms interchangeably,