Topic: Language Tech at a Breaking Point: Is the Translation Industry Ready to Survive?
Artificial intelligence promised a revolution — but for many, the first reaction was panic. The rapid rise of LLMs, machine translation, and other AI technologies has not only opened up new possibilities, but also raised fundamental questions: how must the translation and language industry evolve to remain relevant, needed, and sustainable?
This talk invites you to look at the current landscape without illusions – openly addressing why some institutions, companies, or service providers are still hesitant, what it truly means to treat language as a service, and how AI is transforming the translation value chain: from language specialist to solution architect.
We will explore real-life examples of how AI solutions – machine translation, large language models, and NLP – are already changing not just the tools we use, but the very concept of what a translation service is.
We will also raise essential questions about the future of small languages: why high-quality language data is becoming a geopolitical asset, and how the Baltic countries have the potential not only to keep up, but to lead.
This is a talk for everyone – decision-makers, language professionals, academics, and students – who want not just to react to change, but to actively shape it.
About the Speaker:
Renata Špukienė is the head of “Tilde IT”, with extensive experience in localization, translation, and the development of language technologies. The company specializes in creating AI-powered language solutions for businesses and public institutions, such as custom machine translation, speech recognition, dynamic assistants, and chatbots.
