The global language services market is valued between $70–80 billion, yet it operates without a unified global governing body. In this episode of Localization Fireside Chat, Robin Ayoub sits down with Carrie Livermore Fischer and Sultan Ghaznawi to examine whether fragmentation is limiting the industry’s ability to advocate, innovate, and define its value in an AI-driven world. The conversation explores standards, consumer protection, technology governance, and the need for coordinated leadership across the global language ecosystem.
The language industry powers global commerce, healthcare systems, legal institutions, media distribution, and AI training data pipelines. Despite its economic scale, the industry lacks a neutral global authority that represents stakeholders across providers, buyers, professionals, and technology innovators.
In this episode, Robin Ayoub engages Carrie Livermore Fischer and Sultan Ghaznawi in a strategic discussion about governance, fragmentation, and the future structure of the language industry.
Key themes include:
• The current fragmented ecosystem of associations and federations
• The absence of a single global standard-setting body
• How fragmentation weakens advocacy and coordinated response
• The risk of falling behind in AI governance and technology adoption
• The importance of consumer protection and value longevity
• Why the industry struggles with marketing and storytelling
• Whether a multi-stakeholder global governance model is feasible
• What first steps toward coordination might look like
The discussion challenges a fundamental assumption:
Is the language industry defined by translation volume, or by the value it creates in a multilingual global economy?
As AI accelerates digital globalization, governance, standards, and coordinated leadership may determine whether the industry matures or remains fragmented.