Interpreters Are Suffering Worse Working Conditions as Employers Integrate AI

The AI program, called NiCE and made by an Israeli-American company with the same name, promises employers it will create “a more agile, efficient, and human workforce.” For many of the workers themselves, however, the experience has been negative. “NiCE is supposed to optimize the perfect workload,” said Karolina Yermak, a Russian interpreter at LanguageLine. “But you get the workload of two instead of one, without enough time to even take a sip of water between calls.”

Interpreters are often listed among the workers at the highest risk of replacement by AI. But interviews with a half dozen LanguageLine employees reveal a different phenomenon: AI is not so much eliminating as eroding the quality of their work. In a recent survey of 161 workers conducted by the Communication Workers of America, who are seeking to unionize the interpreters, a majority of LanguageLine workers reported high levels of burnout, insufficient time between calls and frequent back and neck pain.