Learning Area

Want to understand what makes one speech translation solution better than another? Consider the words ‘except’ and ‘accept.’ Though only a couple of letters apart, their meanings are entirely different. ‘Accept’ means to receive or agree to something. ‘Except’ means to exclude something.

But what happens when a speaker sounds like they’re saying ‘except’ when they mean to say ‘accept?’ Here, a professional interpreter will use context clues, training, and experience to provide an accurate translation. This precision is key, as even the smallest translation changes can lead to miscommunication. 

With so many cost-effective AI tools on the market, you may be wondering if AI tools are precise enough to pick up on the differences between ‘except’ and ‘accept’ — even when the speaker is mumbling or has a strong accent. The answer is complex.

This article explores the current capabilities of AI. By the end, you should be able to make an informed decision on whether AI speech translation is right for your meetings and events. We also share the factors you should consider to find accurate and precise AI tools.

In a rush? Side-by-side interpreters and AI speech translation usage infographic at the bottom of this article.

Closed captions are an effective technique to improve accessibility, engagement, and information retention during presentations and live events. This, together with shifting video consumption habits in the realm of video streaming, has recently accelerated the adoption of AI-powered captioning in live events and business meetings.

But when it comes to choosing a provider for your own meeting or event, the question that is most frequently asked is: how accurate are automatic live captions?

The quick answer is that, under ideal conditions, automatic captions in spoken languages can achieve up to 98% accuracy as assessed by Word Error Rate (WER).

And yes, there's a long, slightly more complex answer. In this article, we want to give you an overview of how accuracy is measured, what factors impact accuracy, and how to take accuracy to new heights.