Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to Localization Today, where we explore how language, technology and community converge to unlock ideas for everyone everywhere. I'm Eddie Arrieta, CEO at Multilingual Media. Today's episode dives into one of the most important conversations happening across our industry, the role of AI in localization and how professionals can shape that future rather than simply react to it. Our guests are Belen Agujo and Marina Pancheva, two of the voices behind the AI Localization Think tank, a collective of industry experts committed to creating informed, diverse, and open discussions about the impact of AI in localization. The think tank is also organizing the first ever AI ThoughtCon, a three day free online conference taking place from March 30 through April 1, bringing together experts, educators, and practitioners to debate the state of AI in our industry and explore the difficult questions professionals must face as technology evolves. Belen, Marina, welcome. As always,
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Eddie, thank you for so great to be here.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Belen, Marina, thank you again for being here. And many in the audience already know you and we thought it might be fun if you could let us know something they might not know about you just to warm up and then we'll get into it.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Sure.
I can start with a fun fact. So something that people might not know about me is that I'm currently doing training to become a yoga teacher, Hatha yoga teacher. That will last for one year. So I'm currently very immersed in.
In that because I believe yoga and meditation really helps think better, be more innovative, be more creative. So that is something that I want to work on. And the other thing that people might not know is that I'm preparing for a half marathon by early next year and hopefully the New York Half Marathon, but let's see if that will be possible.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Thank you for sharing, Belen. That's. That's really great. Inspiring. Marina, how are you doing?
[00:02:23] Speaker C: Hi. I'm doing great. And so to continue Belen's kind of note with the sports, I don't run. I don't like running. It's not fast enough for me. But instead, I bike roughly 20 kilometers every day everywhere. And I don't own a car. And lots of people know I bike. So that's nothing new for the people who actually know me in person. But what many people don't know is that whenever I bike, I sing. Four full voice. I sing. It actually serves as a early warning system. You know, people hear me from afar and then they stop and then they make way.
And yeah, I hope that we don't lose Belen to yoga, and she'll stay in the localization industry for many, many more years.
But if you were to lose me to something, it's going to be painting. So if I am to change career, I would probably become a painting teacher because painting is something that I do in my free time, nearly professionally.
So that's what people may not know about me.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: That is great. Great. Thank you, Marina. Thank you, Belen. And today we're here to talk about, of course, the AI ThoughtCon, but before that, all the infrastructure and the people behind what makes this happen.
So why don't we get started with this story, the origin story. How did the AI localization think tank come into existence? How did it happen?
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Yes, I can start with that. So basically at the very, very beginning, it was me with a napkin.
It was just like jotting down ideas of things that I thought or I was feeling. And I'm talking back 2024. So many, many things have happened in a couple of years.
It was me thinking, well, people seem very confused with AI in our industry. There is a lot of hype, there is a lot of fear, uncertainty, burnout, lots of negative feelings around AI and how was impacting our industry.
And I didn't find a place where people could come for support. I don't know if emotional support, psychological support, but also to learn from each other and to kind of move beyond all the hype that we were hearing. And like, you know, our industry is going to disappear or profession is going to disappear. So it was very stressful in 2024. So that, that was my, like, original feeling and idea. And then I didn't find myself with enough energy or, I don't know, power to execute this idea to something that was tangible. But then it's when I, when I MET Marina, a TEF conference translated Europe forum in 2024. So we met in person and we started talking. We connected very well. We also met with other great people in that conference who are part of the Think Tank Chorale, Andrea Valas and many more. And so this community started to originate in the most organic way. We had no intentions to do anything, but we just clicked together. We were having fun talking about these challenges that AI was bringing to our industry and how we were feeling emotionally.
And so that's where it all started. And then I, yes, thanks to meeting Marina and knowing that she also wanted to support the community. She's such a generous person. She was always sharing knowledge. She's been sharing knowledge for a long time, but she wanted to do more. And so we started to talk and say, well, we need some group to share resources. I remember, Marina, when we just need a LinkedIn group to share resources and news with a group of people who is interested in these topics. And that's how it started. And then from there, Marina, maybe you want to tell the second part of the story.
[00:06:16] Speaker C: Yeah. So in the beginning, we just gathered people who we thought would be good contributors. And the goal was to gather people who are active, they have high levels of energy, they can produce content, discuss ideas, and have time for that.
But also what was very important is that we select the members of the think tank in a way that they represent the entire localization industry. That is, we don't focus just on suppliers, we don't focus just on translators and freelance translators, but we try to have full coverage. And thanks to the network of the initial people who joined the group, we actually grew to 20 plus members that I would say represent the industry in a pretty, let's say, accurate way. Right. So we still have some gaps, but those we hope to fill in. And then we were running actually undercover for the first couple of months, so we were meeting monthly. We had very vivid discussions in the LinkedIn group. And once we saw that this is all working and that actually during those discussions we generate very useful insights, help each other, but also they can be helpful for the entire community, we rolled up our sleeves and said, okay, let's make that official. And by doing that, we actually commit to existing. So there was no going back. You know, so after the trial period, we saw that this is worth, you know, we, we should actually go public and start sharing all those interesting insights and, you know, discussions and the different perspectives we have on the same problem. So we created the first version of our website and launched it officially. And since then, it's been all actually developing at a pretty great speed, which brought us to organizing even a conference. Who would have thought that we would be doing that a year ago?
[00:08:13] Speaker A: And congratulations, the speed of growth is significant and the knowledge that you're sharing can be seen out there.
If I may look into what you've already built from a different angle and from also the ideas that you had coming into the think tank.
What gap did you both see that made you feel that something like this was needed? And if I may, what is the core mission of the think tank today?
After some time has passed, it's still slowly growing.
[00:08:53] Speaker C: Let me take that first.
So the core mission of the think tank is actually knowledge sharing, information sharing, and making connections. Making connections between the viewpoint for say, somebody, a freelance translator looking at a particular problem, phenomenon, tool, whatever it is, connecting that with the viewpoint of somebody who comes from a totally different end of the localization spectrum, say a buyer or a supplier. So the most valuable thing is that we represent the different, different pockets of the industry and we can look at the same problem from those different angles, hoping that we are achieving a really objective view on every problem and we share it on our website. In fact, learning from each other has been so valuable that I would really want us to share these learnings with the wider community so that it's more, let's say, eye opening, being eye opening and sharing all this knowledge. I also hope that we can help the community get oriented in these times of hype, but also negativity. I think that's very often the attitudes are a little bit extreme. Nothing is really black and white. And we are trying to find all the nuances that currently exist in our industry and be kind of wise about them and see how can we really help the community.
Freelance translators, but also suppliers and even clients get oriented to the extent that we can get oriented the answers to all the questions, but by being such a group that can discuss internally and juxtaposed ideas and you know, sometimes we even have disagreements and I love it. Right. There are really sometimes discussions in the think tank which is like, no, that's not the way to look at things. And then we have a very productive discussion and suddenly, you know, you see the same problems from a completely different angle and you understand better.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Yes. And I think that's one of the. Of the main gaps that we were trying to fill is to have all these voices in one place to think about it. Because what Marina and I noticed when we were talking before the jobs that we have right now, both of us were managing communities of translators and we were feeling really so close to this community and how they were the ones suffering the most on. On the AI, like the consequences of AI, but also they are the ones who are completely outside of the industry, conversations in the conferences, in the main associations and things like that. So we really wanted to bring. And also I don't want. Because I'm not. Even if translation is my background, I'm not an active freelance translator. So I don't want to tell people what they have to do. I have no, you know, no right to tell translators, you have to do this or you have to do that. I wanted to have the thinking to onboard translators who will tell me what they are feeling, what they are doing, and so that we can create something that is valuable for those stakeholders as well and not just say yes, you have to adapt to AI life is wonderful. Well, you have to pay the bills and sometimes it's not that easy to adapt. Right. So I think that's something that, that we wanted to achieve and also the other gap that we were trying to fill is to have something that was without a hidden agenda and without the pressures from the market as much as we can. So we have our own biases of course, as people, because we are humans, but we didn't want to push an agenda like because I'm an lsp, I want to make the case that Human first is the best or because I'm a technology provider, I want to make the case that AI is the best or because I'm a, you know, so because we are different people coming from different backgrounds, we have this balanced approach and we are not like sharing one vision. We have multiple visions, multiple realities and that, that is I think a gap that we were not seeing fulfilled in the industry. And finally also that something that was for me important is do something that is free and that everyone can access, not only people who, who can pay or can afford courses or access to, to information through other platforms. So I think those were some of the gaps that we were trying to address.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Wonderful.
[00:13:17] Speaker C: And if I am to just add to what Belen said, because to me that is very important.
Our credibility comes from our independence and our independence comes from the fact that everything Tank member is there as a person, not as a representative of the company where they might be working or some organization they sharing and so on. So it is an entirely volunteer based, non profit, self funded organization. So there is really no hidden agenda, people. The members are members as individuals for who they are as experts, not for which part of the industry they actually represent the interests of.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: Thank you, Marina. And of course tagging into what you were mentioning, the growth of that vision and that mission has transformed into things that you were not expecting, you were not expecting to have an event to this at this time, but you are organizing one. You are organizing the first AI ThoughtCon conference this year. So you didn't think it was going to happen. Marina, let's start with you. Why is it happening then?
[00:14:25] Speaker C: Yes, I mean it actually started. It's a very spontaneous initiative. So towards the end of 2025, we gathered for one of our last monthly meetings for the year and we had made this promise on our website when we launched it, that we are going to prepare end of the year State of the Industry report. So as we were discussing what to put into this end of the year, State of the industry report, at some point somebody said, but let's, you know, shall we have it actually in written form? Do people prefer written form? Or maybe, you know, a webinar would be better. People can list.
And then we started discussing the webinar and then we realized that just one might not be enough. So gradually, you know, this evolved into the idea of a whole conference. So somebody said, let's just do a whole conference. We have content enough, you know, for a whole conference. So there we are. We ended up organizing a conference as anyone organizing a conference at the moment. When we decided to do so, we had no idea how much work it is. Yeah, but still we are there. We managed because everybody chips in with their contribution. So it's actually not a burden on a single person. So there it is, a fully free conference, open to everyone who just clicks on the registration link, where we've tried to invite really wide representations of experts, also people that we don't often see on the stage of localization conferences.
So maybe Belen can say more about how the conference is structured and what people can expect.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Yes, totally. So I mean, we're here to serve the community, right? We are not here for the money or the fame. So basically we're here to serve the community. And so before putting together the conference, we launched a survey to ask our community members, listeners, audience, what they wanted to see in a conference. So basically, yes, I don't know. More than 100 people replied. And what people said is we don't want to have like a full day of conference because that's a lot of commitment. We also don't want to have one hour because that's too superficial. So people prefer to have like chance or two or three hours per day in consecutive days. So that's why we decided to do it in three days, two and a half hours I think per day it is. And then the other thing that we ask is what type of content do you want to see? Do you want panels? Do you want expert sessions?
What type of do you want? Ask me anything. Questions. There were a few formats and people, the vast majority, wanted to have expert hands on sessions, which is no surprise because, you know, it's the most probably practical, actionable type of sessions. And the second one was the panel. So we also took that into account to create the conference structure.
And so there are three days. The first day is the future.
No, I don't remember the exact. The first day is the people, the second day is the future. The third day is technology or in a different way. But we wanted to focus the three themes and we wanted to, yes, basically reflect on what the future of our industry will look like. What is the role of the people within that industry and what is the role of technology.
And we brought people, as Marina was saying, from different backgrounds that we are not so used to seeing this type of industry conference, such as a philosopher and a Greek philosopher, which is the best type of philosophers as we all know. So we are really happy to have Maria as a keynote of the first day to bring a different perspective and kind of pause and reflect what's going on, what's happening to us, what happened in the past when something different happen to people and so on and so forth. So that's going to be really interesting.
We're going to talk about governance with governance experts and trust and safety experts. We're going to talk about the value of localization.
We are going to talk about bias in technology.
We are going to talk about education as well from an academic perspective. What happens with translation teaching at this point when you know, Studios can use ChatGPT to translate everything.
We are going to talk about as well technology.
We are having Ben Hillock who is a founder of startups in Silicon Valley, he is working currently at this company called Raindrop which basically creates guard grids for agentic workflows and it's something super interesting and super hot as well for our industry.
And we are going to have also talks about translators, what to do in the hopi for translators, quality evaluation and how to use also N8N to design workflows. So again going into AgentIQ and how to use Lovable for prototyping. So really very packet packed program with a little bit of everything for each stakeholder in the industry. So we know some people might not like the technology as much but might be more interested in the humanistic part or the other way around. And the days are organized in a thematic way so that you know, if you don't like one topic, you can just attend one one day and still get value.
So we hope that this will bring something new and fresh and useful hopefully to the industry. And yeah, we will see once we do it and gather feedback from people
[00:20:07] Speaker A: and I'm sure that's going to be the case. Of course across the industry there is different types of responses from AI and what AI is doing around. From fear to cautious optimism.
How can the conference help the industry move from fear towards more constructive Engagement. And I think that's where Marina excels. Right.
Bringing it down to earth to put it in a simple way.
[00:20:38] Speaker C: Yes. Well, I think the answer is very simple. Fear is caused by the unknown. You fear what you don't know and don't understand. So our mission is very simple.
Let's share knowledge. The more informed people are, the less they're going to fear the unknown and they're going to adopt a more constructive approach. So our hope is that this conference is going to give a lot of answers, fill in a lot of gaps, and help people to orient themselves in this constantly shifting industry. And this is also reflected in all the content that the think tank prepares. You know, we have a AI Research explained series. Belen has podcasts with various really interesting people in the industry who talk about their work and share knowledge about that. So fear is to be fought, in my opinion, through knowledge dissemination.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Yes, totally. And also, the more you know, the better you will understand what your position will be in the future, be it as an lsb. As an lsb, as a technology provider, freelancer, academic, the more you understand what the technology can actually do well versus what it cannot do well, or, you know, where the stakes are in what we do as a profession, the better you will prepare for the future.
What I don't want us to happen is that things happen to us. Right. And which is what is kind of happening recently. Honestly, it's like we've been there, we've been all preparing for this, but somehow many technology groups have to cover the conversation. And in many companies, you're seeing how the technology teams, not necessarily the localization teams, are leading the conversations about how to use AI localization. Not in every company, not everywhere, but in many places. That's what I'm experiencing is that kind of localization teams are shy or something in taking leadership. Maybe not shy, but maybe because we don't know technology so in depth, or we have the feeling that we don't know as much as technology teams, we are letting that be led by other teams. And what that will make is that things will happen to us without us deciding. And I think through the think tank, what we want to achieve is that we take ownership of our future, we take ownership of this conversation, and we can lead and shape what's happening to our industry. Not just wait and see and just, you know, regret in the end that, you know, now we are doing things we don't like. Well, figure out what you like and do it.
[00:23:16] Speaker A: That is right. And of course, I'm sure that Those that are listening will say all of this for free. Great lineup, great topics. We can already tell from this conversation the level of conversation that's going to happen throughout those days. How do we participate? Where do I register, where do I put my email? And of course you were mentioning that this is going to be.
You're going to get a link. Is it going to be live stream? Once I register, could you let us know a little bit about what we can expect from the experience?
[00:23:48] Speaker C: So the way one can attend and participate in the conference is simply by going to the ailockthinktank.com website and they're already on the front page. There is the announcement about the conference and a nice button called register here now. So it's enough to press that button and just follow and register and actually really, email is the only thing we want. The registration form is super simple. We are not collecting any information about what kind of company do represent, how did you learn about us and that sort of thing. We decided to keep it very, very light, so that is enough.
Actually, our cap of registered participants that we can stream through our webinar have already been reached because the response has been enormous. And just within two or three weeks we actually reached the upper limit that we had set up for our particip for number of registered people.
But we will stream the conference so that everybody who registered can watch it. So it's going to be streamed on YouTube and I think Belen has more details about it. And in addition, there's going to be a live chat which we will be managing so that people can discuss and ask questions and have an environment where they can talk to each other, just like in a real conference.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: Yes, and we will also be uploading the sessions to YouTube after the conference. So if you, you cannot make it for some reason, the content will be available for everyone even if you are not available the day of the, of the conferences. Yes, some of you, the first lucky 300 participants will be able to join in Zoom and the rest will have to join through YouTube. We are trying to also stream it through LinkedIn, but that's to be to be discussed. Guys, we are like a small group. We have no funding and we are relying on what we can do with our own members. But we are still trying. So we will be be announcing exactly the ways that you can access the content in the next week so that everything is clarified. But Zoom and YouTube for sure.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Well, Belen, you're saying you don't have enough hands, you don't have enough members okay, so beyond the conference, how can the individuals, as you said, this is for individuals. This is not for companies or people representing companies. Is individuals representing individuals and their ways of thinking. How come the listeners who are saying this just resonates with me very strongly. Can I reach out? Can I be one of those hands? Can I pay for the LinkedIn streaming services? I don't know. You tell me.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: Thank you so much, Eddie. So yes, there are different ways how people can engage with us. So we have a small group of 23 people. We are not planning to increase the internal community a lot just because we don't have enough bandwidth to manage more people. Basically we would love to have a huge community, but we prefer it to keep it small and then make a wider impact through the things that we do together. So if people is interested in doing more for the think tank or engaging with us, first of all, go to our website, ailock think tank.com you can check all the resources that are available there. Articles, posts, webinars, interviews, curated resources, library of resources. And then we also have this section called Ask the Think Tank Q and A that is super important for us because we are creating content for the community.
We want more questions coming through that form so that what we create is relevant for the people reading our content or listening to the things that we're putting together. So please use the Ask the Think Tank Curious and Answers button in the website as well.
And we're also looking for people to be interviewed in the podcast. If you have a nice story to share. If your voice is not heard enough because you don't have enough platforms or you don't have visibility, but you have something important to share. Reach out to us, reach out to me. And we're also planning to include guest publications from some selected people that we believe can add value where sometimes are reaching out to people say hey, we believe what you're doing for the community is interesting. Would you like to share in the think tank as well? And as long as it's aligned with the values of the think tank. So no promotion, no hidden agenda, fact checked, curated information and all these things that we discuss, we are super happy to give our platform to more people just for the sake of the community.
So yeah, I think those are the things that we can do.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: Wonderful, thank you so much. And of course this has been a wonderful conversation. I can't wait for the event. And of course it will always be a pleasure to bring you back here. I know we brought both of you on different topics, separate things this time talking about the Think tank, but we look forward to any of the reports that you might get out any future events and we love the audience to get to know about those. Participate, register especially for these amazing events at no cost.
But before we go, Belen, Marina, is there anything else you'd like to add? Anything else you'd like to say to our wonderful audience? Your Localization today.
[00:29:08] Speaker C: My final words would be what I always say. And this is actually the way I always end, almost always end my presentation in public talks. And it's stay curious, keep learning, don't give it to fear.
Attend our conference if you have time during the conference. If not, watch the recordings. I hope this is going to bring value for you and you're going to discover something new and get inspired to do something new.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: And I mean, what can I say after Marina's line, which was perfect to wrap up, just thank you everyone who's been supporting the Think Tank so far for your likes on LinkedIn, for your comments. It means a lot to us. Thank you Eddie and Multilingual for having us twice.
Thank you so much. We're very grateful.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: This is wonderful. Thank you again, Marina, Belen, thank you. For those that are listening today to Localization today, I hope you're all saying thank you to the Think Tank through your likes and your comments and your participation in the event. That's coming again March 30 through April 1.
AI ThoughtCon conference, offering three days of discussions, insights and community engagement around AI and the language industry. You can learn more and register through the AI Localization Think Tank website. Catch new episodes of localization today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. Subscribe, rate and share so others can find these wonderful conversations. I'm Eddie Arrieta with Multilingual Media. Thanks for listening and see you next time.
