Research shows 94% of event planners consider AI for translation

New research has revealed that a significant majority of event planning professionals, approximately 94%, would consider utilising artificial intelligence (AI) for live translation services at their events.

The study, detailed in an exclusive report by Interprefy, sought the opinions of 1,000 key decision-makers in events, marketing, and project management roles within multinational companies globally. The findings suggest a shift towards AI adoption in event translation services, spurred by the growing need for multilingual support in various corporate activities.

Currently, in-person professional simultaneous interpretation remains the dominant translation service, used by 70% of multilingual event planners. AI-powered speech translation is ranked closely behind, utilised by 67% of respondents. These figures indicate that professionals are increasingly considering which technologies are best suited for their events, balancing traditional methods with emerging AI solutions.

Interprefy's Chief Executive Officer, Oddmund Braaten, commented on the findings, stating, "The speed with which AI-powered speech translation has been adopted since its launch less than two years ago is impressive. However, it is important to acknowledge that the report also shows that 58% of respondents use Remote Simultaneous Interpretation and 53.5% use live multilingual captions. This demonstrates the breadth of multilingual technology available to event planning professionals today."

The emergence of AI in the translation industry aligns with broader market trends. The AI/machine translation industry is projected to reach USD $3 billion by 2026/27. The shift towards AI has been driven by the adoption of hybrid working models and the demand for global talent, necessitating more advanced and accessible multilingual communication tools.

The Interprefy report also delves into the types of events where AI-powered speech translation is utilised. Over two-thirds (69%) of the surveyed professionals use it for business meetings, whereas only 40% apply it to corporate training purposes. This disparity raises discussions about whether organisations could extend multilingual support to more internal functions.

"The expansion in live translation services," Braaten continued, "provides organisations with more opportunity to expand their multilingual support beyond traditional external conferences or events. In the past, organisations' use of in-person interpretation and remote simultaneous interpretation has perhaps been limited to high-value events. However, with the growing awareness of new, innovative, and accessible live translation services, we are seeing more internal and training events offering multilingual services."

The comprehensive report, titled "Global businesses and live translation: An Interprefy report investigating how and why business event organisers use live translation services," presents the full details of the research. The study encompassed responses from professionals in the United States, Japan, Spain, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, the United Arab Emirates, and Germany, covering companies with more than 500 employees.

This research underscores the evolving landscape of multilingual event planning, highlighting a significant shift towards AI technologies while still recognising the persistent reliance on traditional interpretation services. It indicates an industry that is rapidly adapting to new technological advancements to meet the growing demands of global communication.