H
ow does one sum up a year like 2025? Well, it depends on whom you ask.
Depending on one’s focus and the nature of one’s work, 2025 was chaos. Or it was a year of steady, incremental progress. It was a year of reacting to unpredictable market forces for some businesses. Or perhaps it was a year of bolstering proven practices and relationships.
A year marked by continued technological evolution, global unrest, and economic disruption, 2025 touched everyone differently. So how does one make sense of it and draw out lessons for the future? MultiLingual magazine staff members figured there was no one better to ask than those who experienced it on the front lines.
To that end, we reached out to some of the language industry’s leading chief executive officers (CEOs) and business leaders. We wanted their insights into what the year meant, what dynamics best characterized it, and how they weathered it. Their answers are illuminating, and the differences in their analyses are just as fascinating as the commonalities.
Despite living under the same industrial umbrella, each leader interviewed this month faced different circumstances depending on the clients they served and the businesses they ran. They also found their own unique ways to adapt and strengthen operations in the face of potential disruption, all while maintaining their own mental and physical health to meet the moment.
At least there’s one point most can agree on: This year meant different things to different people, but it certainly wasn’t boring.
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What three words defined 2025 for you?
Driven, determined, and disruptive.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
I started going to the gym at least three times a week and spent lots of quality time with my family — including our beloved golden retriever, Ginger. I’ve also focused on strengthening my mental health and resilience, so that not even a Dmitry Medvedev tweet on X can throw me off balance.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
Work with the best people — both in terms of intellectual prowess and integrity. It’s the only moat.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
For us, the most exciting development was Blacklake, our intelligent memory layer for Blackbird. I was impressed with innovations from CaptionHub, DeepL, Phrase, Translated, and Uber. I also love the growing discourse around language inclusivity and long-resource cultures.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Resilience. Alignment. Acceleration.
2025 was a year where chaos tested us and challenged us in new ways. We aligned even more deeply with our mission of advancing health equity, rallied our team, and pushed forward with purpose. Our team rose to the occasion and we innovated wherever needed. We didn’t just stay in the game; we accelerated.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
2025 was an unpredictable year for sure, and we felt the chaos at times. Ultimately, we focused on what we could control, which was our team, our values, and our execution. The external noise created an opportunity for us to become more strategic than ever. We doubled down on our culture, tried hard to listen more, and made sure we were responding to what our clients truly wanted. We scaled intentionally, automated where it made sense, and reinvested in the areas that strengthen our foundation, like our technology, interpreter training, and key leadership roles.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
We’re building a company that can thrive in sunshine and weather the storms. That means offering a balanced mix of in-person, remote, and now artificial intelligence (AI)–supported interpretation services. Each modality gives us a different way to meet clients where they are and helps us stay agile as needs evolve. We’re also investing deeply in our interpreter pipeline. Our accredited Interpreter Academy is more than just a training program; it’s how we ensure we’re never short on qualified professionals and how we continue to raise the bar on quality, no matter how fast we grow. We’re doubling down on our technology and data infrastructure. Whether it’s how we schedule interpreters or how we show return on investment to clients, we want every system to be smarter, faster, and aligned with our mission to improve health outcomes. The most important things for us at Linguava remain our company culture, our values, and our mission. Even as we grow and expand services, our culture is still the main priority. This helps ensure that no matter what happens on the outside, we will remain true to who we are at our core, and clients will know what they can always count on when working with us.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
We established new key strategic partnerships with leading hospitals and healthcare organizations. We doubled down on staff development and deepened our leadership structure, bringing on new roles, including a full-time chief operating officer, Kris Rosenberg. 2025 challenged us to build new muscle around scenario planning and taught us to act decisively while staying flexible enough to adapt as circumstances changed. Our Linguava Interpreter Academy experienced geometric growth and we completed 10 cohorts, which led to many more interpreters achieving their national credentials. I think 2025 was the year the industry stopped fearing AI and started figuring out how to integrate it ethically. With tools that enhance, not replace. Platforms that elevate, not undercut. The companies that lean into human-centered innovation will lead the next decade, and Linguava will be one of them.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Momentum. Adaptability. Innovation.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
I’m not sure I would describe it as unpredictable and chaotic. There is some macroeconomic weakness in certain sectors and geographies and an increased focus from clients on AI innovation, but these are things we expected entering the year. As a result, we concentrated resources into our strongest verticals, where our expertise delivers the most impact, while also expanding into adjacent opportunities that align with our long-term strategy — particularly in high-risk business-critical content in regulated sectors. We have also worked hard to accelerate the speed of innovation. Most importantly, we stayed close to our clients. The deeper our understanding of their realities, the more adaptive we are. In parallel, we continued to invest in our team with learning and development, as well as attracting new talents with an entrepreneurial mindset.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
Our approach to the future is simple: strengthen what we’re best at and invest in what will define the next decade. We’re doubling down on our core competencies of quality, security, technology, and client excellence, while taking calculated bets on strategic verticals where we see long-term potential. And above all, we remain relentlessly client centric. When we help our clients succeed in an uncertain world, we future-proof ourselves.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business and for the industry?
2025 has been transformative for TDL. We launched Managed AI, STREAM AI, and TOPPAN Digital IP — three milestones that position us at the intersection of language, data, and technology. These initiatives reflect our belief that the future of language services lies in intelligent integration, combining human expertise with AI-driven efficiency and data governance. Across the industry, we’re seeing the same convergence: technology firms realizing the value of linguistic precision, and language companies embracing AI at scale. It’s an inflection point, and we’re proud to be helping define it.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Untapped AI potential.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
While 2025 felt turbulent to many, for us it was a year defined by focus and consistency. The key was preparation. We began with a clear strategy, solid execution, and a strong sense of purpose. Despite shifting regulations, economic uncertainty, and the constant conversation around AI, we never lost sight of what mattered most: the customer, our people, and our plan.
Our approach was to control the controllable. We focused on delivering measurable value to customers, investing in partnerships that strengthened our ecosystem, and continuing to innovate using our disciplined Cadence framework. That discipline gave us a confident path through volatility.
In unpredictable markets, resilience comes from clarity and teamwork, not reaction. We avoided short-term decisions and concentrated on outcomes that compound over time. This mindset helped us sustain growth, strengthen customer trust, and achieve recognition within the language technology industry.
The lesson from this year is that predictability is built, not found. By staying true to our strategy and focusing on our customers and continuous innovation, we remained stable in a world that was anything but.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
Future-proofing is about being ready for change, not trying to predict it. Our approach starts with a simple truth: The need for meaningful content and communication across all channels never stops. Especially in economic downturns, competition is fierce, and we help our customers create a competitive advantage by reaching and engaging audiences, building trust, and adapting their messages to customer expectations. The opportunity lies in doing more of this, not less, but efficiently, intelligently, and at scale.
We have built a platform that helps enterprises achieve that balance, using AI responsibly and effectively to deliver tangible results while maintaining control over quality, governance, and data. Achieving strong results with AI requires strong human controls, as well as experts-in-the-loop. By combining automation with human insight, we help customers deliver content that is not only more personalized and contextually relevant but faster than ever before. Our platform is powerful, but our direction and philosophy center on ever-increasing composability, as well as strong APIs and developer tools, and enable our customers to be in control, so they can bring together the elements they need from across the ecosystem to succeed.
A major part of our strategy is the continued expansion of our ecosystem. By partnering with complementary technologies and services, we provide enterprises with a single, composable platform instead of a collection of disconnected tools. This approach gives them the flexibility to evolve as technology advances while maintaining operational coherence.
We see AI as a long-term force for progress, but the real advantage comes from how it is applied. The stronger and more adaptable your system, the more resilient your business becomes. Our mission is to give enterprises that foundation, helping them evolve confidently without disruption.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business and the industry as a whole?
The launch of Phrase Studio was a defining moment for us. It integrated multimedia capabilities into language technology, including video, subtitling, captioning, dubbing, and synthetic voice, within a single platform. This evolution toward what we call “multidimensional content” allows brands to communicate through richer, adaptive experiences that go far beyond translation.
Another major highlight was our partnership with Publicis Production. Together, we are helping global brands unite creativity and technology to produce and adapt content at scale. Publicis has built a dedicated business unit around our platform, enabling enterprises to deliver campaigns faster, more efficiently, and with greater cultural resonance. It shows how language technology now sits at the heart of global brand strategy and storytelling.
Across the industry, 2025 was the year AI turned promise into progress. Perhaps the year began with overly high “promise” from foundation models, and the reality of incremental “progress” is now increasingly understood as practitioners work to solve real-world AI at scale. Yet, companies began to achieve real efficiency gains, significantly reducing post-editing and shifting investment from human-heavy processes to technology-driven workflows. In 2026, I predict we’ll see that progress grow to production scale.
Our recognition as a Leader in The Forrester Wave was significant not just for Phrase but for the industry. The fact that Forrester produced a Wave for this category for the first time signals that language technology has matured into a strategic priority for enterprises. It reflects a broader acknowledgment that language technology is now central to growth, efficiency, and customer engagement. What was once considered a support function has evolved into a core capability for brands that want to connect, compete, and grow with impact.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Disruption. Uncertainty. Opportunity.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
Resiliency is the hallmark of winning organizations. The language marketplace has been changing for the past several years, so in many respects, 2025 was a continuation of an ongoing trend of disruption and uncertainty.
A big part of being resilient is to expect the unexpected. People take cues from the top; they want — and deserve — leadership that can process change and react to uneven policies or changing customer expectations. We live in an age of communication and sound bites; it is important to let the company know what you are thinking and how you are absorbing and processing events and market dynamics. If the broader team believes you are competent and have a clear strategy, they will follow. If they don’t believe in the messages and the actions they see from the top, they will leave. Our attrition rates are hovering around our historic lows, and we are getting a lot of inbound inquiries from curious talent at our competitors, so we must be doing something right.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
It’s not hyperbolic to say that customers are under pressure. Increasingly, they are dealing with inbounds from executives (who have never paid attention to localization) to be disruptive and bold. Or more simply said: Use AI, cut costs, process more content, and, while you’re at it, don’t scrimp on quality. On top of that, they are worried about their own jobs. This leads to new pressures on language service providers (LSPs) and fosters decision-making that may not follow what LSPs are used to.
We have a clear view of what the other side of disruption looks like, but getting there won’t be a straight line and will require bold actions. Most companies are risk averse, but great companies have historically made big bets and tolerated higher degrees of risk. Transcending the anti-globalization trends in businesses that have thrived on globalization will require higher risk-taking and reshaped organizational design that promotes agility and adaptiveness.
We believe there will be two kinds of people in the world: those who AI tells what to do and those who tell AI what to do. Everyone in our company has an AI goal — we aim to be on the side of the ledger that can tell large language models (LLMs) what we want them to do. The winners — or future-proofers — will be on that side of the divide.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
It took close to 10 years before 90% of businesses had a website. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Adoption of new technologies is a marathon, and 2025 is still the early stages of a long race. The market is evolving; consolidation is happening. The market will be hard-pressed to support 15,000-plus boutique LSPs.
We were early adopters of AI, and we expected broader adoption of our solutions in 2024 but, in retrospect, the market wasn’t ready. The game is now on — buyer expectations are evolving, and change is coming.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Evolved, executed, and excelled.
2025 was the year we evolved through change, executed with precision, and excelled together. Uncertainty defined much of 2025 as government, healthcare, and education organizations faced budget freezes and pressure to integrate AI without clear direction on how to use it responsibly. At MasterWord, we slowed down to listen, learn, and adapt to the new climate our clients were facing. Rather than rushing toward every new technology, we focused on responsible integration; designing systems that amplify, not replace, human expertise; and transforming uncertainty into strategy.
Trauma-informed language services are needed more than ever for the demographic we serve. We formalized our trauma-informed framework and launched the first certificate program in trauma-informed interpreting. As we close the year, MasterWord is completing Level 1 Trauma-Informed Care Certification, a first for a US LSP.
Collaboration defined how we excelled in 2025 both internally and externally. The newly formed National Language Access Coalition brought leaders together to advocate for equitable access nationwide. Partnerships strengthened, trust deepened, and performance followed. For me, excellence isn’t perfection, it’s purpose in motion, and our team embodied it every day.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable dynamics of 2025?
The best response to chaos and unpredictability is calm clarity. We’ve always planned for the long term, not week to week. So, when 2025 brought turbulence, we paused, reassessed, and stayed focused on our clients.
Instead of chasing every new technological breakthrough, we focused on understanding how AI could be used responsibly, and, just as importantly, where it should never replace human judgment. Every member of our team became fluent in the new tools, understanding both the opportunities and the risks that come with AI technology.
Through the SAFE AI in Interpreting Task Force and the Coalition for Sign Language Equity in Technology (CoSET), we helped launch the AI Interpreting Solutions Evaluation Toolkit, a practical resource that gives clients and providers a clear framework for safely assessing and integrating AI interpreting tools. It offered something the industry urgently needed: structure, transparency, and a shared language for evaluating new technology.
By year’s end, the market shifted from hype to caution, and, for our clients, there was a clear path for responsible implementation of AI interpreting technology.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
We see future-proofing as fire-proofing. Rather than resisting change, we focused on building strength to thrive within it.
One of the greatest challenges ahead is the looming shortage of qualified language professionals. Interpreter training programs across the country are shutting down, even as global demand for language services continues to rise. We’re preparing now for that imbalance, not by waiting for the market to correct itself, but by investing in people.
Through the MasterWord Institute, we’re building the next generation of language professionals: trauma-informed, culturally aware, and AI-ready. As AI moves from hype to practice, one thing remains certain: Human expertise is irreplaceable. In every high-stakes encounter, empathy, context, and judgment still define excellence. We’re building for that future today.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
The biggest breakthroughs of 2025 weren’t technological; they were structural. For the first time, our industry gained a clear framework for evaluating AI in interpreting. The AI Interpreting Solutions Evaluation Toolkit gave everyone a shared vocabulary, consistent standards, and a practical roadmap for safe implementation.
AI accounts for less than 5% of live interpreting. In high-risk environments, nuance, contextual understanding, and empathy cannot be automated. This year marked the turning point from experimentation to responsible adoption.
Going into 2026, MasterWord stands stronger, clearer, and more aligned than ever — ready to lead the next chapter of language access with integrity, innovation, and impact.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Technology. Shift. Reliability.
2025 has been a year where technology dominated every discussion — not as a buzzword, but as a real force reshaping how we operate. It’s also been a year of shifting: business models, service expectations, and how technology and human expertise coexist. And through it all, reliability — in people, in partnerships, in delivery — has become the ultimate differentiator.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
First, by recognizing the magnitude of the shift in our industry and adapting quickly. We’ve faced technological evolutions before, but usually in growth periods and at a manageable pace. This time, everything came at once, in a much tougher economic context.
Our model is changing fundamentally. Automation is accelerating, yet the “human in the loop” remains essential, not only for localization quality, but also for managing complex service delivery.
Our response has been guided by three priorities: technology, agility, and partnership. Technology to accelerate transformation. Agility to adapt quickly, staying tech-agnostic when needed. And partnership to build sustainable relationships instead of transactional ones.
We’re proud of the progress and vision behind Lia Services and Lia Go, which truly embody the future we’re building.
Still, as someone who came into this industry from the outside, I see one major challenge ahead: changing buying habits. The prevailing multivendor, per-word, no-commitment model may seem flexible, but it’s ultimately unsustainable. It prevents both clients and providers from creating the kind of long-term, win-win partnerships that drive real innovation and efficiency.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
Future-proofing at Acolad starts with one simple truth: adaptability. The pace of change has never been faster, and while uncertainty remains high, our focus has been on responding decisively in the short term, while keeping a clear long-term vision.
This meant reassessing our strategy on two fronts — service coverage and technology — and ensuring our people are fully aligned behind that vision. We’re staying focused on execution — delivering the products and solutions that will shape the future of localization. That’s exactly what Lia represents: a forward-looking platform that unites technology, human expertise, and data-driven intelligence to transform how global content is created and managed.
I believe that we’re still at the beginning of a major industry transformation, one that will increasingly demand speed of adaptation, deep technological expertise, and operational excellence. These will be true differentiators as the market continues to consolidate, and they will make it increasingly difficult for midsize or nonspecialized players to compete.
Still, I remain firmly convinced of one thing: The future belongs to service. Technology alone is never enough. It must be guided, adapted, and verified by people who understand context, culture, and quality. That balance between innovation and human intelligence is what will ensure Acolad not only adapts to the future but helps define it.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
The most remarkable development of 2025 has been the exponential rise in the capabilities of LLMs, and this is still only the beginning. On a societal level, it’s both exhilarating and unsettling. The speed of adoption is unprecedented, and these systems are evolving in ways that offer extraordinary potential but also raise new risks and ethical questions. Safeguards are still catching up.
We are witnessing the early stages of a revolution, one that may ultimately reshape our world even more profoundly than the advent of the internet. It’s a global race unfolding across every industry, redefining how we think, work, and communicate.
But such progress also raises profound questions. How do we ensure accuracy, security, and cultural sensitivity in a world increasingly mediated by machines? How do we safeguard the roles of human creativity and accountability? These are challenges the entire industry must confront.
At Acolad, these questions are not theoretical. They are at the core of what we are building with Lia, our ecosystem designed to harness AI responsibly. We’re proud to be part of this transformation alongside other key players in our field, contributing to progress and already seeing tangible results. The stakes are high, but so is the potential: There is still so much to build, refine, and discover.
In the end, whatever challenges this technological shift brings, its ultimate purpose remains deeply human: to enhance and expand global communication. That’s the essence of what we do and the reason why, despite the risks, we can’t help but feel excited about what lies ahead.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Adaptation, collaboration, and hope.
Uncertainty pushed us to adapt, build together, and keep faith in the purpose behind the work.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
At first, I felt the ground shift. Translation has been central to my world for years, and the pace of change was jarring. Then we moved quickly — adapting strategy, upskilling our team, and reimagining services to meet new realities. We adopted new tools where they add value while doubling down on what machines can’t replicate: cultural intelligence, community trust, and Haitian Creole in standard orthography. Technology amplifies our work when guided by human-in-the-loop quality assurance (QA) and strong terminology management.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
We’re future-proofing by investing in people and standards. Haitian Creole remains underrepresented in global systems — from translation platforms to AI training data — so our leadership is essential. We focus on education and terminology development to prepare Haitian Creole for the digital and AI era. We maintain rigorous human oversight, expand sector partnerships (education, healthcare, corporate), and model how one-language specialization delivers scale, integrity, and impact.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business and for the industry as a whole?
For Creole Solutions, 2025 was about connection and collaboration that moved the field. Our virtual gathering, KONBIT 2025, convened linguists, educators, and technologists around language equity, AI, and the future of Haitian Creole — yielding shared QA practices and terminology priorities.
Across the industry, I’m encouraged by a real shift toward inclusion and accessibility, with growing recognition that smaller, underrepresented languages must be visible — and technically ready — in global localization and AI. That momentum gives me hope.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Adaptability. Courage. Reinvention.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
After 19 years leading InText, I can say that 2025 has been a real-time stress test of everything we’ve learned about strategic thinking. The key has been to set aside stability and build adaptability into every layer of the company, from project workflows to decision-making.
We reacted to 2025’s volatility through three principles: situational awareness, shared responsibility, and rapid iteration. When external conditions changed overnight — due to market dynamics, client behavior, or geopolitical factors — we gathered cross-team input quickly, evaluated options, and acted before hesitation could cost us momentum. Every leader was deeply involved, because this year demanded maximum engagement. At times, things moved at what felt like an inhuman speed, so clarity and trust inside the team became our strongest currency.
We also learned to reallocate resources dynamically. Strong growth in desktop publishing and e-learning localization allowed us to balance exploratory investments in our new product, Hera AI.
Operating from Ukraine, unpredictability is woven into our daily reality, and perhaps that has shaped our resilience. We no longer separate “normal” from “crisis” conditions; we treat every situation as an opportunity for intelligent adjustment.
This year reinforced a fundamental truth: In an industry where language, culture, and technology intersect at unprecedented speed, leadership is about both predicting the future and preparing your organization to respond.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
To future-proof our business, we’ve focused on building resilience through two interconnected strategies: intelligently integrating technology and diversifying our service portfolio. On the technology front, we’ve invested in tools that augment human expertise rather than replace it.
Our proprietary tool, Hera AI, exemplifies this approach. It improves linguistic quality and accelerates machine translation post-editing (MTPE) workflows while keeping linguists at the center of the creative process. But technology alone isn’t enough. We’re equally committed to supporting education and fostering open dialogue about responsible AI implementation across the industry. Throughout 2025, we’ve conducted company-wide strategy meetings specifically focused on navigating AI shifts — not just adopting tools but fundamentally rethinking how we deliver value to clients in an AI-augmented landscape. These sessions ensure that every team member understands both the opportunities and the boundaries of what technology can and should do.
Simultaneously, we’re expanding our service offerings strategically — strengthening our position in desktop publishing, e-learning localization, and other complementary areas. Our diversification isn’t arbitrary; we choose services based on our core expertise and, more importantly, on client demand and market gaps we identify through continuous dialogue. Understanding what our clients genuinely need — not just what they request — guides every expansion decision.
This dual approach allows us to absorb market volatility without compromising quality or values. It also positions us to respond quickly to changes in client needs, which evolve especially rapidly amid uncertainty. The companies that will thrive aren’t necessarily the biggest or fastest, but those that adapt with empathy, purpose, and transparency. That’s the business we’re building.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
The most significant development in 2025 has been the maturation of our industry’s relationship with AI. The conversation has evolved from anxious speculation — machines versus humans — to something far more productive: reimagining professional value in an AI-augmented world.
This transformation from anxiety to empowerment has been genuinely exciting to witness. At InText, we’ve seen it firsthand as linguists and partners have embraced AI as a creative assistant rather than viewing it as a threat. Our milestone achievement — building Hera AI as a unique platform that truly complements human expertise — validated this approach. Client feedback has confirmed what we believed: Clients don’t want cheaper or faster at the expense of nuance; they want smarter processes that preserve quality.
Beyond AI, 2025 also brought increasing demand for localization in emerging markets, growing emphasis on accessibility and inclusive language standards, and a wave of industry consolidation that’s reshaping competitive dynamics. These parallel trends have reminded us that technology is just one piece of a much larger transformation in how global communication works.
If 2024 was about disruption, 2025 is about synthesis — finding equilibrium between innovation and empathy, speed and meaning, automation and artistry. That balance is what sustainable progress in our field should always be about.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Challenge. Transformation. Expansion.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
2025 demanded flexibility, speed, and foresight. The unpredictability — from global economic uncertainty to evolving AI tools — reminded us that agility is more valuable than stability.
At e-Arabization, we embraced a mindset of proactive adaptation. We built agile, cross-office teams between Dubai, Riyadh, and Amman, capable of responding rapidly to shifting project needs. We trained our linguists and project managers to leverage AI-assisted workflows while maintaining cultural authenticity and linguistic depth.
We also strengthened client collaboration — maintaining transparency, setting clear expectations, and aligning deliverables with the strategic visions of our partners, many of whom were navigating their own transformation journeys in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
What truly grounded us was our sense of purpose: amplifying the Arabic voice in an increasingly automated world. By staying true to that mission, we navigated the chaos not with resistance, but with renewed clarity and confidence.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
Future-proofing for us means being regionally anchored yet globally adaptive. We’re focused on three interconnected priorities:
We also continue to future-proof through strong partnerships, aligning with entities that view Arabic not as a translation checkbox but as a strategic asset for engagement and growth. In a volatile economy, authenticity and adaptability are our constants. Those are the values that will keep e-Arabization relevant in the decade ahead.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
2025 marked a breakthrough year for the Arabic language, both technologically and culturally. For e-Arabization, it was a year of expansion and strategic partnerships across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. We supported projects that went beyond translation into full-scale Arabic communication design, from sustainability and consultancies content to public-sector initiatives. It was rewarding to see Arabic becoming a central part of digital transformation strategies rather than an afterthought.
On a broader level, 2025 was a milestone for the Arabic-AI ecosystem. Saudi Arabia launched HUMAIN, a Public Investment Fund–backed company that aims to build the world’s leading Arabic-first AI platform, a clear signal that the Kingdom is positioning language technology as a pillar of its innovation economy. At the same time, the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language accelerated national programs to enrich digital Arabic content and support language-tech startups.
In the UAE, the Technology Innovation Institute’s Falcon LLM introduced an Arabic-capable model within its Falcon series, expanding the region’s AI leadership and enabling developers to build tools rooted in Arabic culture and expression.
These initiatives together marked a turning point: For the first time, Arabic is shaping the global AI conversation rather than following it. As a localization company, seeing our language at the core of such innovation reinforces our belief that Arabic is not just part of the content economy, it’s at the heart of the future digital economy itself.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Disruption: The AI mandate across enterprises completely transformed our industry in less than a year. Traditional translation models and legacy vendors are being re-evaluated as companies realize they need partners who can help them move faster, more efficiently, and with greater control.
Innovation: We’ve gone beyond automation to build AI agents that enhance every step of the translation process — improving translation memory, detecting and repairing hallucinations, assessing quality, and more. These innovations empower our customers to translate up to three times more content, six times faster, and at a fraction of the traditional cost.
Transition: AI translation now drives nearly 80% of our customers’ content localized globally. We’re helping customers make that transition successfully — balancing the speed and scale of AI with the quality and brand integrity that only Smartling’s technology and human-in-the-loop expertise can deliver.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
We stayed close to our customers — listening carefully to what they needed to succeed in this moment of rapid change. When uncertainty is high, communication and partnership matter most. We increased our investment in customer success, engineering, and AI research and development (R&D) to make sure our customers had the technology and support to navigate this new era with confidence.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
Smartling was born in the cloud and built on machine learning from the very beginning, so AI isn’t a bolt-on for us — it’s in our DNA. That foundation allows us to rapidly integrate the latest advances in LLMs while maintaining enterprise-grade security, scalability, and quality.
At the same time, we’ve built a strong R&D organization focused on experimentation and applied innovation — developing new AI capabilities that continuously feed our production pipeline. This ensures our customers always benefit from the most advanced, reliable, and cost-efficient translation solutions available.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
Smartling is one of the fastest-growing translation businesses in the world today, and what excites me most is seeing innovation turn into measurable impact for our customers. Every advancement we make — whether in adaptive AI translation, agent-driven quality review, or scalable automation — helps customers reach new markets faster and more effectively.
For the industry, it’s been encouraging to see AI expand opportunity rather than replace it. Localization teams aren’t doing less — they’re doing more, faster. By delivering high-quality, on-brand translation and localization as a service, we’re not just competing for a share of a fixed market — we’re expanding the pie for everyone.
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What three words defined 2025 for you?
I am going with just one word: resilience.
2025 has been a very difficult year for the language industry. There has been a significant reduction in the amount of paid translation work, and this has a clear impact on LSPs and translators in particular. The people in our industry have shown incredible resilience. If one door closes, they knock on the next door. They face tough times with good grace, humor, and an eye toward improving things.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
We had a secret weapon in dealing with the chaos of 2025 — human intelligence. People at memoQ looked at what was and what could happen, thought about it a lot, and came up with strategies for growing our company. Within the company, we talked straight with each other, treated colleagues and customers with respect, and worked very hard to deliver for our customers.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
At times we were anxious, but we never panicked. Obviously, AI is a big part of the future. memoQ is all about AI augmenting very competent professionals, and we are developing technologies that use AI to help our customers keep more money in their pockets as a result of using our tools.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
There have been a lot of exciting developments. We were delighted to see Globalese by memoQ win the CODiE Award for machine translation. In the past year, this team has tripled in size and morphed into memoQ AI. We developed more and deeper partnerships last year and have seen a lot of benefits from them. We will shortly have an important announcement in this area. Partnerships have also been important for the industry as a whole.
memoQ has continued to evolve as an enterprise-focused technology provider, further strengthening its ability to understand and support the complex needs of this sector. As part of this journey, memoQ has achieved SOC 2 Type 1 certification, underscoring our commitment to enterprise-grade security and trust.
While the impact of AI is undeniable, our focus remains on keeping human professionals at the center of the language process with technology serving as an enabler of efficiency and quality rather than a replacement for human expertise.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Awakening, Latent, Purpose.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
We stayed focused on our long-term vision. We know that quality, speed, and cost are the pillars of localization success, and this won’t change. There are many ways to improve in one area but not the others, and most of the time touching one area affects the others. The latest technology hype led many to push for cost cuts, underestimating the impact on quality. Instead of adapting or reacting to the hype, we chose to pursue a coherent vision.
Every technological shift tempts companies to reduce expenses. But the real opportunity lies in stimulating the latent demand. This was the secret behind the success of companies like Airbnb, Uber, and Nike, and of products like the iPhone and bottled water. Winners are the ones who grow 300 percent, not those who save 30 percent. This acknowledgment has always been part of our vision.
Our motto, “We believe in humans,” is strictly connected to this vision. We want to empower localization people to express their value and play a strategic role within their companies. We also know it’s a hard period for professional translators, but we see a brighter future for the best of them. Senior translators working in context-led workflows are already receiving more consistent assignments and stronger recognition in enterprise accounts. Those who take responsibility for meaning and quality are being rewarded.
To enable our translators to play a strategic role, we provide context, accountability, and recognition. This is what the upcoming version of TranslationOS enables. We’ve always built technology to make translators responsible for meaning, not just corrections. From accountability comes purpose. Where purpose goes, creativity follows. That’s how quality can scale with AI.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
The most important thing was to reject questions framed by fear. If you assume that uncertainty is a negative thing, you react defensively. Change always brings new opportunities. To seize them, you need the will to act, resilience, and trust in the future.
Having acted as pioneers in AI for 15 years gives us an unfair advantage: We can see what’s coming next in AI. We saw early that automation alone would not raise quality. Progress comes when AI handles scale and humans guide meaning, tone, and intent. So, while everyone was rushing to introduce AI into their processes to perform specific tasks, we committed to this direction long ago with Lara, designed as the most reliable translation AI, and with TranslationOS, which gives context to translators.
From the latest conferences — LocWorld, AMTA, and TAUS — the consensus is that translation AI quality depends on complete content visibility. This year has been eye-opening for the industry. And we are glad to see that many are now moving toward human-AI collaboration.
Yet, to unlock the full benefits of symbiosis, the best AI is not enough. You need to work with the best translators. To attract them, we offer clear ownership of the work, meaningful recognition, and fair economic benefits. Years ago, we decided to share the benefits of AI with translators. Now, we are also providing the conditions for them to thrive. Translators are strategic partners again.
With new context-rich processes, we are unlocking the potential of both AI and human creativity. You can save with AI, yes, but you only grow by working with the best humans.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
The launch of Lara Translate and the integration of Lara into the enterprise workflow have been turning points. Lara expanded from 10 to 200 languages in one year. It now supports glossaries, custom instructions, and contextual reasoning, even for historically underserved languages, establishing a new standard for quality. And we’ve just introduced Lara Think, a large, quality-optimized model that is far closer to the best professional translators.
This year, the localization industry gained visibility in global discussions on AI. I contributed to an advisory group to Pope Leo XIV on AI-related issues alongside leading researchers, including Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton and Turing Award winner Yoshua Bengio. The final document affirms that “artificial intelligence presents significant opportunities to advance . . . mutual human understanding.” This recognition validates the strategic relevance of language, translation, and communication within the broader AI landscape and reinforces the importance of human-AI collaboration as a path for progress.
This happened just a few months after the European Union assigned Translated the role of coordinator of the DVPS projects, wherein a consortium of leading research institutions and AI companies are developing a new class of AI systems designed to gain a grounded understanding through direct interaction with the physical world.
Through these and many other initiatives that sparked press interest in AI innovations, we provided firsthand insights from the localization industry on the human-AI collaboration that the rest of the world is now experiencing, as we did in the past decade.
Last but not least, our participation in the Ocean Globe Race with Translated 9 continued to attract attention and invitations to tell the story in public events. Explaining why we raced with minimal technology always brought the discussion back to the rise of AI and the strategic value of human-AI symbiosis in our industry.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
If I were to choose three words to characterize 2025 for Argos Multilingual, they would be: Resilience · Growth · Innovation.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
My approach this year was anchored in three practical behaviors: staying grounded in our fundamentals, being transparent with our stakeholders (clients, partners, and staff) and doubling down on agility.
We focused on what has always defined us: delivering high-quality language and data solutions for our core industries. But we also recognized that stability couldn’t be taken for granted. The market was shifting fast, budgets tightening, technologies evolving, and client expectations changing. So instead of resisting that volatility, we adapted to it. We built more flexible workflows, strengthened our operational resilience, and invested further in technology and AI-enabled services that allow us to pivot quickly when circumstances demand it.
This balance between consistency in what we do best and adaptability in how we deliver it became our guiding principle throughout the year.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof the business?
At Argos Multilingual, our answer lies in three focus areas: diversification, technology leadership, and deep partnerships.
Diversification means broadening our service portfolio beyond traditional localization into data solutions, AI-driven workflows, and multilingual content creation. This evolution reduces our exposure to the ups and downs of any single market or service line and positions us where client demand is growing fastest.
Technology leadership is central to our strategy. Our Argos MosAIQ platform, an AI-first content enablement platform, embodies how we’re investing in the future.
Finally, deep partnerships have become our foundation. We’re strengthening our relationships with technology providers and clients, shifting from transactional work to long-term programs built on shared goals and innovation. These strong, trust-based connections make the business more resilient when macroeconomic conditions fluctuate.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025 — both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
For Argos Multilingual, one of the most exciting developments was our growth and expansion in AI- and data-driven services. The launch of MosAIQ laid strong groundwork; in 2025, that translated into real client engagements where localization meets LLM workflows.
For the industry, the broader shift where localization is no longer just “translation + adaptation” but a core part of global content, AI models, and data-pipeline ecosystems was exciting. The boundary between “language service provider” and “data/AI partner for global business” is blurring. That opens new markets, new value propositions and new client expectations.
What three words defined 2025 for you?
Resilience: Countering disruption has never been about volume or marketing noise. True resilience comes from genuine differentiation — grounded in the conviction that data quality and governance are as critical today as they have been throughout our 40-year history. Our deep industry expertise, trusted governance, and unwavering belief in the power of quality data, supported by industrial-scale process automation, continue to anchor the value we deliver as the world evolves.
Integration: While the noise around AI has reached deafening levels, bringing together all technologies — including AI — requires true business integration and strategic focus. Our approach keeps people, not AI, at the core, ensuring solutions that are trusted, transparent, and engineered to deliver the best outcomes for our clients.
Repositioning: To rise above the echo of commoditized services and shifting global trade winds, we must define genuine competitive advantage — built on specialization and truly differentiating expertise.
In a year of ongoing industry disruption, we realized our biggest opportunity wasn’t chasing trends — it was clearly articulating the value we’ve been delivering all along. But crucially, it also required looking outside our industry — firstly matching our specializations in industrial-scale process automation in other applications and industries, while also learning from industry and AI leaders to track and navigate our future.
How did you manage and react to the unpredictable and often chaotic dynamics of 2025?
We listened carefully to our clients. In chaotic times, they don’t need vendors — they need partners who understand their specific challenges. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, we invested in deeper relationships and domain expertise.
We stopped reacting and started positioning. Instead of chasing every trend or adding to the noise, we focused on what truly differentiates us — the genuine value we deliver that competitors can’t replicate. Chaos demands clarity, not more complexity or empty promises without proof.
Our conservative approach — grounded in experience, caution, and a healthy skepticism of hype — allowed us to look through the chaos, identify what truly matters, and make use of the best emerging developments. In short: We pick the treasure, not the turbulence.
As a global network with 40 years of experience, we navigate change with perspective and purpose — finding opportunity in transformation rather than being swept away by it.
With so much uncertainty and differing opinions about global economic trajectories, what are you doing to future-proof your business?
We’re focusing on where our local expertise and network can bring fresh insight to help us and our clients navigate global uncertainty — going beyond translation to maximize business opportunity and impact.
We’re building genuine competitive moats through deep expertise in complex technical domains where quality and precision matter more than price. Commoditized services are vulnerable; specialist expertise is not.
We’re also pragmatic about AI — steering clear of the unsubstantiated hype around “AI at the core.” Instead, we’re blending AI use cases within our technology platforms where they create sustainable value, while doubling down where human expertise remains irreplaceable.
What were the most exciting developments of 2025, both for your business specifically and for the industry as a whole?
Clarity on where STAR can be genuinely exceptional — that’s been transformative. We gave ourselves the freedom to look beyond our own industry, adopting more outside-in thinking that will truly shape advances and opportunities in areas like AI.
As for the industry, watching AI force everyone to articulate their actual value proposition has been fascinating. The hype is fading, and real differentiation is emerging. Companies built on “we do translation” alone will struggle; those with genuine expertise and a clear purpose will thrive.
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