AI Translation Quality Evaluation: Challenges, Approaches, the Road Ahead

SIG Meeting Speakers

Alon Lavie, Phrase

Alon Lavie is vice president of AI research at Phrase. He has been at the leading edge of AI research in language technology for many years. He has just concluded a tenure as VP of language technologies at Unbabel, where he led the company’s U.S. AI lab based in Pittsburgh, and provided strategic leadership for the company’s broader AI R&D teams. Prior to this, Alon headed up the Amazon Machine Translation R&D group in Pittsburgh. Notably, earlier in his career, he co-founded and led a machine translation technology start-up, Safaba Translation Solutions, ultimately serving the company as president and chairman of the board, until its acquisition by Amazon in 2015. Additionally, Alon has been at the forefront of academic research in machine translation. His impressive academic credentials include 20 years of serving as research professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Language Technology Institute (LTI) where he is now consulting professor. His primary research has focused on machine translation and translation evaluation as well as related areas such as MT adaptation approaches with and without human feedback, quality estimation, and methods for multi-engine MT system combinations.

Marta Nieto Cayuela, Preply

With over a decade of experience, Marta Nieto Cayuela focuses on Quality Strategy, combining hands-on expertise, AI innovation, and industry collaboration to rethink translation evaluation in practical scenarios. Her vision is to position quality and localization as growth drivers, making quality management smart, human, and shared.

Kirill Soloviev, ContentQuo

CEO & co-founder at ContentQuo, an Estonian🇪🇪 translation technology company that helps corporate Localization teams, Government translation agencies, and Global Top-100 LSPs  reduce translation quality risk, improve vendor performance, and boost MT quality with a data-driven, standards-based approach powered by our vendor-neutral SaaS platform. During his 20-year industry career, Kirill served in diverse buyer-side & vendor-side roles, most notably as Global Director of Localization at Acronis, a Unicorn technology company focused on data protection and disaster recovery. Kirill is a frequent speaker, panelist, and panel organizer at industry conferences and events in Europe, Asia, and US. He is also a fan of the LocLunch movement and co-organizer of the Localization Unconference in Tallinn.

GALA Special Interest Groups

GALA SIGs are global communities that connect members on topics of shared interest led by volunteer moderators. Meet the moderators for the AI Use Cases SIG.

Dr. Belén Agulló García, Terra

Belén is a multimedia localization professional with over a decade of experience in the localization industry in various roles in multiple companies, mainly language service providers, research and consultancy firms, and technology service providers. In her professional career, she has touched upon almost every role in the industry, including linguist, project manager, quality program manager, language technology deployment manager, researcher, educator, customer success manager, and vendor relationship manager and community builder, among others. This unique mix of experiences gave her a unique and deep understanding of the industry. In recent positions, she worked as AI Strategist and Innovator. Her focus has been to lead teams in devising and implementing long-term AI strategies, foster strategic partnerships, and define go-to-market strategies for AI services across key verticals. Her current role is Executive Consultant, Innovation at Terra, where she keeps bringing her passion for localization, processes, and language technology to customers around the world. With an academic foundation rooted in Translation and Interpreting Studies from the Universitat d'Alacant, an MA in Audiovisual Translation, and a Ph.D. in Language Interpretation and Translation from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, she has not only pursued knowledge but has also contributed to her field through a user-centered study on accessible subtitles in virtual reality content.

Olga Beregovaya, Smartling

Olga Beregovaya has over 25 years' experience in localization and language technology, with a particular focus on machine translation/other NLP applications development and deployment. She is currently driving the AI and strategy for Smartling. Olga is very active in the translation/localization industry; she is a frequent presenter at Localization World, AMTA, TAUS and GALA conferences. Olga is a former President of AMTA and a current Vice President and Technology Track sponsor of Women in Localization. 

Marcus Danei, SAP

At SAP, Marcus Danei is responsible for defining and implementing the strategic direction for SAP's language technology. Marcus has over 24 years’ experience in the software and localization industries, and has worked in a range of areas within SAP, from introducing Arabic as a standard language, through translation production management, defining and maintaining standards for release management and technology, to translation business partner management. 

SAP’s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: SAP customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. SAP helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

María do Campo Bayón, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

María do Campo Bayón has studied Translation Studies at the University of Vigo and completed her master's degree in Tradumatics: Translation Technologies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and obtained a PhD in Machine Translation. Previously, she worked in various positions as a translator, post-editor, project manager,  localization engineer, and Machine Translation Program Manager. Currently, she is a Machine Translation Quality Manager at Language I/O.

Thomas Mosley, ITC Global Translations

Localization Engineering Manager for ITC Global Translations. From Oklahoma but have lived in Spain since 2010.

Patricia Paladini Adell, Paladini Digital Solutions

Patricia Paladini Adell is a seasoned Globalization Consultant with over 22 years of experience in the Localization industry. As co-owner of Paladini Digital Solutions, she specializes in helping international companies build cohesive, scalable localization teams by leveraging cutting-edge technology and driving automation in global localization programs. 

Passionate about empowering organizations to scale globally with efficiency, precision, and innovation, Patricia partners with companies to identify their localization needs and successfully design, develop, and implement enterprise-level product, marketing, and web content localization strategies.

Laura Ramírez Polo, Rutgers University

Laura Ramírez is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Rutgers, where she teaches a number of courses on Translation Englihs-Spanish and Spanish Composition and coordinates the Translation and Interpreting program. She has more than 15 years of experience in the Academia and the translation industry as a translator and project manager. Her research interests include computer-aided translation, terminology, global digital marketing, human-machine interaction and new types of digital genres for translation, areas in which she has authored numerous articles and book chapters. Dr. Ramírez is currently in charge of the translation program in the Spanish and Portuguese Department at Rutgers, and her duties include the coordination of an undergraduate and graduate Certificate, an MA, internship courses and a final practicum. She holds a degree on Translation and Interpretation from the University Jaume I in Spain, a degree on Library and Information Science from the Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, an MA on Computational Linguistics from the Ludwig-Maximlians-Universität in Munich and an MA in Medical Translation from the University Jaume I in Spain. She received her PhD on Controlled Languages and Machine Translation from the University of Valencia in 2012.

Antoine Rey, Argos Multilingual

Antoine Rey, SVP of Customer Development at Argos Multilingual, started his career in localization in 1997 and has held various technical, sales, and management roles in the industry. Antoine’s main area of focus is to consult, develop and implement mature globalization models with clients across various industries. Antoine is a French native and holds a MS in Information Technology and a BA in International Business and Communications.

Ziyi (Ian) Zhang, Zoetis