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Interprefy has marked ten years since its inception, reflecting on its role in advancing Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) technologies.
Over the past decade, RSI technology has developed significantly, integrating artificial intelligence (AI)-powered neural machine translation and real-time speech recognition. These advancements have enabled near-instant translations in a multitude of languages, enhancing communication at both in-person and virtual events.
The incorporation of these cutting-edge technologies into cloud-based platforms has made multilingual communication both more accessible and precise. This, in turn, has transformed interactions at global events, conferences, and summits, ensuring that these gatherings are more inclusive for a diverse range of participants.
Kim Ludvigsen, the Founder and current Vice Chairman of Interprefy, initiated the company in November 2014, embarking on a journey that has seen the company rise from modest beginnings to a prominent role within the industry.
Reflecting on this journey, Oddmund Braaten, the former Chief Operating Officer and now Chief Executive Officer, commented on the company's achievements. "I've been fortunate enough to be part of Interprefy's growth and success over much of the last decade, over which time we have helped to deliver over 100,000 multilingual events, have a customer list that includes over 100 Fortune 500 companies and saved 150,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions," said Braaten.
Interprefy's milestones over the past ten years also include delivering over 20 million minutes of human translation per year, 500,000 app downloads, and more than 80 platform integrations, whilst offering services in over 190 languages.
The landscape of RSI technology has continued to evolve, especially given the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic which temporarily halted international events. The progress in AI technology has required Interprefy to continue innovating even after a decade of success.
Recent research commissioned by Interprefy in September 2024 indicated that a substantial majority of event planning professionals (94%) are open to incorporating AI into live translation services at events.
Projections estimate the AI and machine translation sector's market value could reach USD $3 billion within the next ten years. This growth is expected to be driven by hybrid working trends and increased global collaboration as organisations seek talent from around the world.
"It is clear from our research that the needs and requirements of multilingual interpretation support at events are changing," said Braaten, further noting 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 research findings were published in the report "Global businesses and live translation: An Interprefy report investigating how and why business event organisers use live translation services."
Looking forward, Braaten expressed optimism about the future impacts of AI on Interprefy's services. "As we look ahead to the next decade, the use of AI will propel the live translation services we provide, creating more opportunities for multilingual support beyond traditional external conferences or events. With the growing awareness of accessible live translation services, we are seeing more internal and training events offering multilingual services. Bring on 2034!"
