In most meetings, a mistranslated phrase costs a moment of confusion. In an investor call, a regulatory hearing or a pharmaceutical advisory board, it can end up as a correction to the market, a complaint or a formal finding.
That changes what good interpretation means. AI speech translation has improved quickly, and for many sessions it’s now accurate, fast and far cheaper than booking interpreters. But regulated organisations don’t only ask whether the translation was right. They ask who was responsible for it, how the data was handled and what record exists afterwards.
The organisations handling this well aren’t choosing between AI and human interpreters. They’re deciding session by session, and matching the mode of interpretation to the consequence of getting it wrong.
Accuracy matters, but in regulated industries three other questions usually decide the choice.
AI speech translation can meet the second and third tests well. The first is where professional interpreters still earn their place.
The best fit for financial services is a platform that combines certified information security, interpreters with financial expertise and integration with the meeting tools a firm already uses. When comparing providers, check for ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certification, GDPR-compliant data processing, access controls such as two-factor authentication, and a clear answer on whether audio and transcripts are kept after the event.
It also helps to split sessions by audience. Earnings calls, investor days and AGMs are public disclosures, so they warrant professional interpreters who know financial terminology. Internal town halls, regional team meetings and training sessions are usually well served by AI speech translation and live captions. For EU banks and insurers, procurement may also treat the interpretation platform as an ICT third-party service under the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), so it’s worth involving vendor-risk teams early.
Interprefy’s approach for the sector is set out on its finance and insurance page.
Legal settings need interpreters who know legal terminology, strict confidentiality and a format that suits the proceedings. A legal conference or continuing education session is a lot like any other conference: AI captions and speech translation can widen access at a sensible cost. Depositions, contract negotiations, arbitration hearings and compliance audits are different. The wording itself carries legal weight, so a professional legal interpreter is the safer choice.
The practical test is whether the words spoken could later be relied on as evidence or as an agreement. If they could, use a named interpreter. Interprefy’s legal and compliance page covers how it supports these sessions.
Public bodies need interpretation that is accessible, fair and easy to account for. Parliamentary sessions, public consultations, press briefings and diplomatic forums all have audiences who rely on hearing official information accurately in their own language, and many also have accessibility obligations that make live captions essential.
A sensible split is to use professional interpreters wherever a session affects people’s rights, entitlements or official positions, and to add live captions so the content is accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing participants. AI speech translation works well for routine community updates and internal briefings, where it can extend language coverage that would otherwise be too expensive to offer. Interprefy’s government page covers its work on parliamentary debates, public announcements and diplomatic forums.
Investigator meetings, advisory boards and medical congresses bring together clinicians who need precise terminology, often across many languages. Safety information, dosing and adverse-event discussions are where a misrendered term matters most, so they call for interpreters with medical expertise. Larger congress sessions and research updates can use AI speech translation and captions to reach more language groups, keeping interpreters for the clinical discussion. Interprefy’s healthcare and pharma page describes this split.
The pattern is simple: the more formal the record, and the harder an error is to correct afterwards, the stronger the case for a named interpreter.
Interprefy offers remote simultaneous interpretation, AI speech translation and live captions on one ISO 27001-certified platform, so a single event can use interpreters for its high-stakes sessions and AI for the rest. Interpreters are vetted and sourced through trusted partners, the platform is GDPR-compliant, and it works inside tools such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex and ON24. For the general case for combining the two, see the smart way to combine AI and human interpreting.
Related article
In regulated industries, the right question isn’t “AI or human?” but “what happens if this session gets a word wrong?” Answer that for each session, and the right mix of interpreters and AI usually becomes obvious.
If you’re preparing an investor event, hearing or public consultation in more than one language, talk to an interpretation specialist about the right mix of interpreters and AI for each session.