For a short min-presentation at the Association of Language Companies annual conference May 2015. An update on what has occurred in technology since the previous summer which might be a threat or disruption to Language Service Companies. Or an opportunity, if you know how to see it.

1. Chris Carter
@CyWhisp
ALC Update:
New Technology
versus
Your Strategy

2. Providers focused only on MTPE
Many small pieces
Volunteers
Crowdsourcing
“revolutionary”
“certified” / “qualified”
“prof. LSPs do the PE”
MARKETING
PROCESS INVESTORS
VC becoming interested
ex. Unbabel: $1.5 MM

3. Increasing Featurization of MT
Twitter adds Bing Translate
WeChat adds MT
to messaging
Voxox adds MT
to messaging app
Yappn Corp. selling
MT widgets to
e-commerce companies

4. “Real Time Interpretation” Threat
Automatic Voice
Recognition
+
Machine
Translation
+
Voice Synthesis
Android app
‘conversation mode’
HP MyRoom,
cheap for businesses
free for classrooms
Offers RTI to customers
of French telecomm
company SFR
Japanese telecomm
company offers RTI
to own customers
via “Hanashite Hon’yaku”
French telecomm
equipment company
offers RTI via “WeTalk”
APPS!
U-Star, iTranslate, etc.
Except no voice synthesis

5. not-to-market…… yet
Facebook buys Wit.ai
They develop code as API for
3rd-party speech recognition systems
SpeechTrans building new devices
Starting to develop apps as plugins
to make voice recognition
for smart home devices multilingual;
Working on smart wristband
that does nothing but RTI
Student creates program
that learns sign languages
By PhD student Binyam Gebrekidan Gebre,
has learned and can identify and transcribe
six sign languages, so far, using a camera
?

6. So are you innovating,
or being replaced?