Europe’s AI translation industry told it risks reputation by partnering with US firms

AI companies in Europe risk losing their world-leading status in the field of machine translation, industry figures have said, after the decision by one of the continent’s leading startups to partner with Amazon’s cloud computing division provoked alarm. While businesses in the EU have generally lagged behind the US and China in AI adoption, a small group of European companies have cornered the global market for high-quality machine translations for professional use. The biggest success story is Cologne-headquartered DeepL, an online translator that regularly outperforms Google Translate in accuracy assessments . Used by governments, courts and half of the Fortune 500 list of highest-earning US companies, last year it was reported to have recorded revenues of $185.2m . Last month DeepL launched a live voice-to-voice translation service, reminiscent of the babel fish device envisaged in Douglas Adams’ 1981 novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Shortly before the announcement, however, DeepL informed its paying subscribers that it would “no longer process data exclusively on our own servers” and was entering a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides vital infrastructure for much of the internet. The move prompted concern among users and observers of the sector in Europe, who say it will boost Silicon Valley’s monopoly over digital infrastructure just as the actions of the Trump administration prompt alarm over tech companies’ independence. …