AI and Localization in Progress. Things are changing fast for people in the localization world. This podcast from features short 15-minute conversations with industry thought leaders to keep you up to date on the latest innovations, experiments, and challenges.
Powered by Argos Multilingual
Localization can quietly own the global customer experience while still feeling powerless when priorities shift. We’re expected to deliver a high-quality multilingual experience across acquisition, conversion, onboarding, retention, and expansion, yet the real levers often sit with different leaders across marketing, sales, product, and customer success. Kevin O’Donnell, strategic advisor at Global 10X, gets concrete about what “influence” actually looks like inside a cross-functional,...
9 Jul 2026
Context As A System
I sit down with Augstin Da Fieno Delucci, co-founder of Trilogica Global and former Director of Global Data and AI at Microsoft, to unpack a shift that changes how global teams should think about AI: treating context as a system, not a prompt. We’ve all gotten better at generation, better models, better prompting, better fine-tuning. Agustin argues that progress is real, but it hits a ceiling when the surrounding architecture has no memory of what “good performance” looks like across markets...
23 Jun 2026
How to Negotiate With Your TMS
Your translation management system might not be failing, but it can still be quietly throttling your localization program. Stephanie and Giulia Greco unpack why many client-side localization professionals feel stuck right now: TMS platforms that looked “end to end” in the sales cycle start showing real product gaps once you add more content types, more stakeholders, tighter release cycles, and more languages. The result is a mix of stalled automation, awkward workarounds, and the sense that y...
18 Jun 2026
Shadow Localization: An Organizational Perspective
Translation is no longer a single lane that runs through one department. We are watching localization spread into marketing stacks, product releases, support tools, and AI features like chatbots, sometimes without any coordination at all. That shift can feel empowering and fast, but it also creates a new question that companies cannot dodge: who owns quality when everyone can ship multilingual content? We dig into the forces behind “shadow localization,” from executive pressure for velocity ...
16 Jun 2026
Shadow Localization: A Localization Managers Perspective
Someone on your team ships a translated page overnight, looks like a hero, and nobody filed a localization request. Then you stumble on the copy later and think, “Did we do this?” That moment has a name: shadow localization. We dig into why it shows up even in mature programs, why AI and machine translation make it explode, and why treating it like a turf war is the fastest way to lose trust and relevance. We talk through the real-world patterns: the small team that built a translation workf...
11 Jun 2026
Economies of Scale vs Assurance
AI has made translation dramatically cheaper, yet a lot of localization leaders still feel like budgets are tightening and quality pressure is rising at the same time. We dig into why that paradox is real and how it shows up inside modern localization programs. The key is recognizing two different economic forces at work: a scale curve where lower unit costs drive more demand and explode the amount of content you translate, and an assurance curve where the real cost is the consequence of gett...
9 Jun 2026
The Governance Problem
AI translation has never looked better on the surface, yet plenty of teams still can’t make it work reliably in production. We dig into the uncomfortable reason: large language models are probabilistic systems, so the failure modes shift from obvious “bad machine translation” to believable, fluent mistakes that can quietly change meaning, introduce the wrong product definition, or slip in biased or hallucinated details. That’s where governance becomes the difference between a clever demo and ...
4 Jun 2026
Why SMEs Are The Real Bottleneck (Not Resources. Not AI)
Translation is getting faster every month, yet localization risk keeps rising. That’s not a paradox, it’s a signal that the bottleneck has moved. Stephanie from Argos sits down with Erik, an independent advisor at Vogt Strategy, to name the real constraint most enterprise teams are feeling: subject matter expert feedback loops that can’t keep up with AI-driven volume. We dig into what SMEs actually mean in a modern localization program, from internal product experts to partner teams in...
2 Jun 2026
The Real Price of Localization Quality
“Quality” in translation sounds like a simple promise until you ask one uncomfortable question: what happens if it’s wrong? Stephanie and Erik unpack why so many localization pricing conversations get stuck on a single, vague standard, and how that confusion leads teams to either overbuy heavy workflows or quietly push risk onto vendors without paying for it. We walk through three distinct ways to define translation quality. First is output quality: the measurable correctness of the wo...
28 May 2026
Metadata: The Hidden MVP to AI Localization Success
Metadata sounds like the boring part of localization until you realize it can be the difference between a scalable operation and a constant fire drill. We get specific about what’s at stake when a major share of a multi-billion-dollar industry goes to coordination, project management overhead, and transactional friction rather than value creation. If you’ve ever felt like your team is moving fast but still not getting ahead, this conversation puts a spotlight on the hidden system underneath t...
26 May 2026
Ask Better Questions And Build Viable Solutions
Localization is changing so fast that our old labels might not survive it. Stephanie sits down with Erik Vogt to unpack “solutions design,” the strategic discipline of turning a real business problem into a technology-supported solution that is both executable and commercially viable. If you have ever watched a team sprint to a proposal and then struggle to deliver, this conversation puts language around why that happens and what to do instead. We walk through Erik’s three lenses for making ...
20 May 2026
Connectors
“Just connect the systems” is the phrase that launches a thousand painful integration projects. We sit down to get honest about why connectors in localization and content operations are rarely plug and play, even when a vendor says they have one. Once you’re dealing with hundreds of possible content systems, dozens of TMS options, and different ideas of what a “job,” “string,” or “approval” even means, the real challenge becomes workflow alignment, data modeling, and long-term reliability, no...
14 May 2026
Generative AI For Global Marketing With Real Brand Control
AI can crank out marketing copy at a speed that feels like science fiction. The problem is that your audience still has the same 24 hours in a day, and their patience for generic content is getting thinner. Steph and Erik dig into what that means for AI marketing in the real world: the bottleneck has moved from production to attention, and the only sustainable edge is relevance, precision, and messaging that people actually want to share. We also tackle the big question global teams are wres...
14 May 2026
Are Fuzzy Matches Dead?
Fuzzy matches have been treated like a law of physics in localization: higher similarity means lower effort, so the discount grid must be fair. But when we look closely, that assumption starts to wobble. Steph sits down with Erik Vogt to ask the blunt question many teams are now debating out loud: are fuzzy matches dead, or are we just finally admitting we never proved they saved time the way we claimed? We unpack how machine translation and modern AI review workflows challenge the entire “s...
14 May 2026
AI LQA Reality Check
AI LQA sounds like the shortcut every localization team wants, but the real story is more nuanced and a lot more useful. We sit down with Erik Vogt to define AI-driven linguistic quality assurance and quality estimation in plain terms, then follow the practical question that matters: how do you use AI to review more content without blowing up cost, time, or trust? If you manage translation quality in a TMS or CAT tool environment, this conversation gives you a grounded map of what works today...
14 May 2026
Welcome to Field Notes!
14 May 2026
From Idea to AI
A CEO says “add AI,” a team nods, and suddenly everyone is shopping for tools instead of solving a problem. We dig into why that move derails so many AI initiatives and how to convert a fuzzy mandate into a project you can scope, staff, and measure without burning months on ambiguity. Eric Vogt and I walk through a practical way to anchor AI implementation to business value: cost reduction, new revenue, differentiation, or risk reduction. From there we get concrete about what leaders m...
Contact Field Notes
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Field Notes?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
