Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the past couple of weeks, beginning with the newly released 2026 Slator Language AI 50 Under 50, which tracks emerging startups less than 50 months old. The duo observe how this year’s cohort reflects a shift from standalone language technologies toward AI solutions built around complete business workflows. They also highlight seven trends, including the rise of agentic AI, AI-first language solutions integrators, specialist sign ...

Slator's Anna Wyndham joins Florian on the pod to discuss key highlights from the Slator Data-for-AI Market Report, which sizes the global market at USD 9.3bn and examines the ecosystem supplying the data needed to train, adapt, align, evaluate, and deploy AI systems. Anna explains how the market has evolved far beyond traditional data labeling. While annotation and large-scale training data remain important, she argues that the market’s focus has shifted toward helping organizations deploy A...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the past few weeks, beginning with a recap of SlatorCon London, which attracted a record 250 attendees. They highlight growing interest in language AI, startup innovation, and research, as well as a broader shift in industry sentiment toward viewing LSIs and LTPs as integral parts of the AI economy rather than businesses being disrupted from the outside. Drawing on Slator’s newly released market report, Florian shares that the tot...

Sharath Narayana, CEO and Co-Founder of Sanas, joins SlatorPod to talk about the evolution of real-time speech AI, the rise of accent harmonization, and why voice will become the next major enterprise interface. Sharath traces his journey from engineer to entrepreneur, including the founding of Observe.AI before launching Sanas alongside Stanford researchers focused on solving low-latency speech processing. The CEO explains that Sanas initially operated as a speech lab focused on improving hu...

Florian and Esther discuss the language industry news of the past few weeks and Slator’s newly launched website, which reflects a clearer positioning around research, advisory, consulting, events, and market intelligence. The duo breaks down the 2026 Slator Index, highlighting that while revenues appear to have grown, this does not signal real market expansion. Instead, growth is concentrated among a few large players, often driven by acquisitions, while many companies report declining revenu...

Paul Carr, CEO of Welo Global, joins SlatorPod to talk about the company’s strategic repositioning, continued AI investment, and evolving demand in the language solutions industry. Paul notes that the company has narrowed its focus to a few core areas and reorganized around client segments. He adds that client centricity and specialization have been central themes, alongside increased investment in AI and data engineering. The CEO highlights that two-thirds of Welo Global’s revenue now comes ...

Ben Faes, CEO of RWS, joins SlatorPod to talk about the markets’ perceptions of LSIs, the company’s AI strategy, and how RWS is repositioning itself for long-term growth. Ben positions RWS as a technology-led partner helping enterprises operate globally, from enabling multilingual communication to protecting intellectual property and improving market understanding. The CEO highlights the rapid acceleration of innovation and the democratization of AI, where individuals and companies can now bu...

Jessica Powell, CEO of AudioShake, joins SlatorPod to talk about how AI-powered audio separation is making audio more usable for both human and machine workflows, and enabling new use cases across localization, broadcasting, and media production. Jessica emphasizes that early traction came from the music industry, particularly in areas like sync licensing and remixing. However, the company’s expansion into film and television happened organically as new use cases emerged. The CEO explai...

Daniel Sebesta joins Florian and Esther on the pod to talk about the latest language industry news, AI translation developments, and key insights from the Slator Pro Guide: Growth Hacks for Language Technology Platforms (LTPs). The trio begin with TransPerfect’s latest financial results, which reported USD 1.32 billion in revenue, up 7% year on year. They also discuss leadership changes at Straker, where founder Grant Straker stepped down as CEO after more than 25 years. Florian shares new AI...

Georg Ell, CEO of Phrase, returns to SlatorPod for round 3 to talk about how the language technology platform (LTP) is evolving amid the AI boom and the shifting dynamics in enterprise SaaS. Georg shares how Phrase has doubled down on a platform and ecosystem strategy that encourages customers to build solutions on top of the LTP’s system rather than forcing them into a closed system. The CEO addresses the broader AI narrative affecting SaaS companies and explains that investor uncertainty ab...