The Californer - As AI Concerns Grow, 66% of Enterprise Event Professionals Say AI Outperforms Human Interpreters

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New study finds AI translation exceeds human interpretation on quality, access, and cost

LOS ALTOS, Calif. - Californer -- For years, human interpreters have been considered the gold standard for multilingual communication. New research suggests the standard is changing.

The "2026 State of AI Translation and Captions" survey, conducted independently by Dimensional Research and commissioned by Wordly, finds that two-thirds (66%) of enterprise event planners now say AI translation and captions deliver better quality than human interpreters. That shift strengthens with AI usage. Among regular users, 79% say AI performs better, while just 12% prefer human interpreters.

"Much of the public conversation around AI still focuses on risk, uncertainty, and what the technology cannot do," said Lakshman Rathnam, Wordly Founder & CEO. "But research shows that organizations that use AI translation are making decisions based on measurable gains in quality, accessibility, and scale."

Key Findings from the 2026 State of AI Translation and Captions Survey:

● A New Quality Standard: 66% of enterprise event planners report that AI translation and captions deliver higher quality than human interpreters.

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● High Satisfaction Across the Board: 79% of regular users say AI translation performs better than traditional options (with just 12% preferring human interpreters), while 61% of occasional users report a superior experience.

● Rapid Technology Advances: 93% of respondents state that AI translation quality has noticeably improved over the past year.

● Economics Driving Adoption: 95% find AI translation more affordable and easier to deploy than human interpretation, allowing them to expand language access within budget constraints.

● Surging Multilingual Demand: 88% of respondents report an increase in non-English-speaking participants, up from 77% the previous year.

● A Universal Corporate Priority: 96% of surveyed organizations state that providing language access is now a priority.

What's Next: The Future Strategy for Enterprise Language Access
Despite near-universal adoption, 97% of respondents want capabilities beyond live translation, including:

● 58% are interested in adding full multilingual transcripts

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● 53% would like to add subtitle and voice dubbing files

A complete copy of the 2026 State of AI Translation and Captions can be found online at https://www.wordly.ai/research/state-of-ai-translation-2026.

Survey Methodology: The 2026 State of AI Translation and Captioning survey, commissioned by Wordly and conducted by Dimensional Research, surveyed 205 meeting and event stakeholders from the U.S. and U.K. between May 11 and May 21, 2026. Participants were responsible for external events and/or internal meetings involving multilingual audiences at organizations with more than 1,000 employees.

About Dimensional Research (https://www.dimensionalresearch.com/): Dimensional Research provides actionable market research to help innovative companies make smarter business decisions.

About Wordly (http://www.wordly.ai/): Wordly is the pioneer and leader in AI translation, providing real-time translation, live captions, transcripts, and AI-generated summaries for meetings and events.