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Language barriers have always posed challenges in contact centers. Traditionally, companies relied on human interpreters, but this approach is expensive, slow, and inefficient.
Now, AI technology is transforming how businesses deliver multilingual support, offering scalable, cost-effective, and practical solutions.
The History and Challenges of Human Interpreters
Human interpreters have been the go-to solution for enabling communication across languages. This involves hiring multilingual staff or outsourcing to over-the-phone interpretation (OPI) services. While these methods work, they come with drawbacks:
High Costs: Multilingual agents and OPI services are expensive, especially in high-volume environments.
Delays: Connecting to human interpreters adds time, increasing handle times, frustrating customers, and compromising CSAT.
Scalability: Managing demand surges during peak times is resource-intensive.
Security Risks: Third-party interpreters raise concerns about data privacy and compliance with sensitive customer information.
Human interpreters are invaluable in some scenarios, but the need for more scalable and efficient solutions is undeniable. The good news is, these solutions are here.
AI Interpretation is Revolutionizing Contact Centers
AI-powered tools are transforming multilingual support by addressing the limitations of human interpreters. Built on advancements in translation AI and GenAI technologies, these systems provide reliable, real-time interpretation.
Introducing Krisp’s AI Live Interpreter
Krisp recently launched AI Live Interpreter, the industry’s first AI live interpretation solution, offering real-time, bi-directional translation. With enterprise-grade scalability and security-first design, it helps call centers eliminate language barriers with the click of a button.
Key benefits:
Instant Availability: It’s available 24/7, eliminating delays.
Cost Efficiency: AI Live Interpreter operates at a fraction of the cost of human interpreters.
Scalability: Works with all softphones out-of-the-box, and is built on systems designed to handle unlimited simultaneous sessions, adapting effortlessly to peak demand.
User Experience: Agents sees both live transcription as well translation in front of them which helps to get more context
Security: Many AI solutions are privacy-first, reducing risks associated with third-party interpreters.
Krisp supports over 25 languages with high quality and counting.
Let’s see it in action.
English + Mexican Spanish language pairing:
English + Hindi language pairing:
See it live and learn how Krisp’s AI Live Interpreter can transform your global support operations.
BLEU: Setting Standards for Translation Quality
Ensuring translation accuracy is crucial for customer interactions. The Bilingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) methodology is a widely recognized metric for measuring the quality of translations—both human and AI-generated. It compares machine-generated translations to human references and assigns a score based on similarity.
Here’s how BLEU scores are interpreted:
Human Translations: Typically score around 60, reflecting their flexibility and nuance.
AI Translation: Scores of 20-30 are considered sufficient for effective communication, with scores above 30 indicating high-quality outputs.
Short Phrases (~5 seconds): AI translations scoring above 40 are nearly indistinguishable from human translations.
Krisp’s: Sees Scores averaging 30-45 across supported languages, ensuring robust performance for real-world customer interactions.
Although AI systems may not match human-level nuance, their BLEU scores demonstrate they are highly capable for contact center needs. Businesses can rely on these solutions for clear, consistent, and accurate communication in real time.
Democratizing Multilingual Support
AI interpretation technology is leveling the playing field for businesses of all sizes, enabling them to offer multilingual support without massive overhead:
For Small Businesses: Affordable, easy-to-deploy solutions help smaller companies compete globally.
In Emerging Markets: Companies in regions with diverse languages can scale quickly without hiring large multilingual teams.
By removing cost and scalability barriers, AI is making multilingual customer support a practical standard rather than a costly exception.
Challenges and the Road Ahead
Despite its advantages, AI interpretation still has limitations:
Accuracy: Industry-specific jargon and heavy accents can impact performance.
Cultural Nuance: Machines may struggle with subtle emotional or cultural cues.
Integration: Ensuring AI tools align seamlessly with workflows requires thoughtful implementation.
However, as machine learning models continue to improve, AI tools are becoming more adaptable and precise. The use of BLEU scores validates their progress and readiness for real-world applications.
Looking Ahead
The future of customer support lies in AI-powered tools. Businesses that embrace these technologies early can streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance customer satisfaction. AI interpretation is no longer a luxury but a necessity in today’s interconnected market.
AI is transforming contact centers, making multilingual support a reality for everyone. For companies looking to stay ahead, now is the time to act.
Real-time AI interpretation is such an exciting advancement in breaking down language barriers! The potential to enable seamless global communication across industries is truly transformative.
At Datumo, we focus on enhancing reliability in LLM-based applications to ensure trust in AI-driven solutions. Learn more at https://datumo.com/en
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