Unlocking Latent Demand in Translation

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ranslated CEO Marco Trombetti identifies the frictions holding back global demand for localization and shows how AI removes them.

What is the latent demand in translation?

“Most of the content produced today is not translated because of subpar quality, slow turnaround times, or prohibitive costs. Often, the reason is just one of these, sometimes a combination. If a system could deliver high-quality output that made people feel fully represented, with near-instant turnaround time and almost free, all digital content would be available in 200 languages: every news story, every social media post, every digital interaction. The reality is that only a small fraction of the web is translated into more than one language. Yet the industry keeps expanding. Whenever a technology removes some frictions around quality or speed without introducing a cost barrier, demand ramps up quickly.”

What happens when all frictions are removed?

“Demand for translations will grow far beyond expectations. We’ve seen examples from other industries. Take Airbnb. Market analysts estimated the market for short-term house rentals was zero, but then Airbnb created the technology that removed the friction, and it quickly became a $100 billion company. Uber followed a similar pattern. A personal driver available on demand was traditionally a premium service with narrow reach because it required hiring three people to cover the 24 hours. Uber’s technology made it available to millions of users at a much lower cost than in the past. Nike has shown this repeatedly by identifying new needs and designing products that meet them with precision, from performance wear for everyday athletes to personalized gear. It is no coincidence that these companies rely on Translated for their global expansion, because we know that the true power of AI lies not in cost savings but in unlocking latent demand.”

How do you help brands seize this opportunity?

“To fully unlock the latent demand for translation, you need a universal translator that delivers translations that resonate with native speakers in every language and modality, almost instantly, with no cost barrier. With Lara, we’ve taken a step forward in this direction, both in quality and reach. We’ve surpassed traditional machine translation with contextual understanding, reasoning, and the ability to follow instructions across 200 languages. This allows companies to reach 99.7 percent of the world’s population in their official languages with high-quality content. With Lara Think, we are approaching single-pass human translation quality in the most widely spoken languages for user-generated content, empowering companies to translate content that previously went untranslated due to time and quality constraints. It can also be used to improve the time to market of traditional localization processes without affecting costs.”

About Marco

Marco Trombetti is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and investor. In 1999, he co-founded Translated, which pioneered the application of artificial intelligence in the language industry. Through Translated, Trombetti led the introduction of adaptive machine translation technology and fostered a symbiotic relationship between professional translators and AI. Leveraging the success of Translated and other ventures, Marco co-founded Pi Campus, a venture capital firm investing in AI-applied startups, and Pi School, an educational institution dedicated to training the next generation of AI specialists.