Bizarre AI Research, Perplexity Ad Blunder, New RWS Hires

0:00Esther Bond:They looked at translating 50 ,000 words and apparently AI translation uses less than 0.05 kilowatt hours. And the human translator uses between 29 and 121 kilowatt hours.

0:19Esther Bond:And we're back with SlaterPod. Hi, Esther.

0:21Florian Faes:Hi, Florian.

0:22Esther Bond:Quick news episode to catch you up. We are going to talk about copy pasting of localization managers, number one. Number two, RWS announcing strategic hires in Q4, some big hires there, and visual data doing the same. And then I want to talk about the most bizarre piece of research on AI translation you have ever seen. And that was our actual headline, which is something we don't usually do. these types of headlines, but this was indeed the most bizarre piece. And then finally, I just want to recommend a couple of podcasts you do have to listen to, so a podcast with podcast recommendations. But first, Esther, big week for Willem in Hungary.

1:11Florian Faes:Yeah, we wanted to congratulate our client, Willem Language Services, on its sale. So yeah, very pleased to have represented Willem in the M &A sell side process. The Willem recently, the announcement this week was that it was sold to a company called In Any Language. So Willem being based out of Budapest, sold to a newly created brand In Any Language. So yeah, very exciting for everyone involved to Tunde Galberi, the CEO of Willem, and then also Jung Min-joon, the CEO of In Any Language, as well as us for having been involved.

1:51Esther Bond:So how were we involved? Let's tell people.

1:54Florian Faes:Yes. Well, so we were the advisors. We were the, strictly speaking, joint exclusive advisors. That means that we work with our partner firm of Area Advisory and we support the seller, so representing the seller in this case, end to end in its sale. So from pretty much the minute they decide that strategically a sale or an acquisition is the right thing for them. We got involved. So that's sort of helping to prepare all of the documentation, the materials up front, helping to define the positioning before you actually announce to the market that you are pursuing a sale. So right from the preparation phase, we then go out and contact possible buyers that we define in the preparation phase.

2:48Florian Faes:Do a lot of admin and back and forth at that point. So reminders, chasers, NDAs, Q &As, call scheduling, all of that. And then also really walk the seller right through to a closing. So that means obtaining an offer or multiple offers, then helping with negotiations, doing the virtual data room and supporting due diligence and then yeah doing all the updates and hand-holding right through to closing.

3:22Esther Bond:It's a very controlled process and it's when you're saying announce to the market this is a very tightly controlled and also highly kind of confidential process as well so you know you'd only reach out to people that were obviously approved by the seller so yeah so if you have an LSI, if you have an LTP and you're looking to sell that company, looking to exit, looking to partner with somebody else, come to us and we'll walk you through it. So this week with Willem, this was our, what was it? Our fifth or fourth? Yeah. Fifth successful exit that we helped manage for a client. Yeah, this year in 2025.

4:05Esther Bond:Yes. In 2025, yes. So that's...

4:08Florian Faes:In 10 months or whatever. Yeah.

4:10Esther Bond:Quite the track record. Definitely, yeah.

4:13Florian Faes:It's been a busy year. Busy and successful so far.

4:16Esther Bond:Busy and successful. Cool. All right. If you want to talk, head to the website, click on schedule a call and, you know, you can schedule a call with Esther and we'll look forward to hearing from you. All right. Let's go back to the news here. I want to talk about something that was really funny. I think it's just hilarious. And on multiple fronts. also wrote about it in the weekly newsletter on Friday. But for those few of you who listen to the part but don't read the newsletter, I want to make sure you know about this. So basically, we must have spoken about this OpenAI localization manager ad a couple of parts ago where OpenAI, you know, kind of the irony like OpenAI, everybody is looking at them to automate and use language AI to automate localization.

5:02Esther Bond:But now they were hiring, I think they put an ad out about a couple of months ago that they were hiring a localization manager. And so this week or last week, we came across a job ad by a company called Perplexity.

5:18Esther Bond:They have a browser also like OpenAI now does since this week, but they have a browser. They're like just one of these, I guess what you call labs, but their product was a browser and you can ask all kinds of questions and they do all other stuff. Have you ever used Perplexity?

5:35Florian Faes:I've probably tested it or played around with it, but it's not one of the ones I would use on a regular basis, no.

5:40Esther Bond:All right. So AI lab called Perplexity also looks to hire a localization manager. And so we're like, okay, that's interesting. So there's a pattern. You've got OpenAI, you've got Perplexity. And then we looked at the job ad and we were like, okay, I don't know. That sounds like oddly familiar. So when we were starting to look at the individual responsibilities, It was obviously interesting to see, well, is there any difference to OpenAI? It turns out there's very little difference. And if you stick the two ads into, well, ChatGPT and you ask it to compare, let me read what ChatGPT tells you. It says, apart from one or two newly added or expanded sentences, the structure, order, and language match OpenAI's description nearly line for line, indicating clear text reuse rather than coincidence.

6:26Esther Bond:And so let me spin this up for those of you are listening or watching this on YouTube. It's just, it's kind of funny. So yeah, let's go through this. So for example, on the responsibility side.

6:42Florian Faes:Which one's which? So you've got...

6:44Esther Bond:Sorry, on the left here is perplexity, on the right is OpenAI. Okay.

6:49Florian Faes:Okay.

6:50Esther Bond:So for example, you have things like responsibilities, manage, now which one is, let me look at this. It just starts out by drive localization strategy and execution

7:07Esther Bond:with alignment to product and other orgs and OpenAI is like drive localization strategy and execution across marketing services. So at least one difference is with perplexity you're reporting to product with OpenAI you're reporting to marketing apparently. But then you have like things like collaborate with GTM product ops, partnerships, legal and regional teams to prioritize languages, align on launch time and ensure the right surfaces are localized for the right audiences. That was perplexity and now OpenAI collaborate with GTM product ops, partnerships, legal regional teams to prioritize languages, align on launch time and ensure the right surfaces or localized for the right audiences.

7:50Esther Bond:It's literally the exact same thing.

7:54Florian Faes:It's very specific wording. I think like surfaces is like not really something, I don't know.

8:00Esther Bond:It's the, I mean, it's so copy paste. Yeah. And also collaborate with GTM. So when OpenAI says collaborate, go to market, product ops, partnerships, legal and regional teams, and Papraxia says collaborate, go to market, product ops, partnerships, legal and regional teams. Do you guys have the exact same structure in your business? Okay. I mean, I could go on. Same with the qualifications. Like, for example, OpenAI says strong knowledge of localization workflows, tools, TMS, CMS connectors, API, and infrastructure. And yeah, copy paste the exact same thing in the perplexity ad. Yeah. What are your thoughts?

8:39Esther Bond:Copying an ad, good or bad? Discuss.

8:42Florian Faes:I don't mind.

8:44Esther Bond:You don't mind?

8:44Florian Faes:Personally speaking. I mean, let's say, I mean, I've seen similar things in the past. For example, you know, with recruiters, if you're, recruiters are often hiring pretty much the same position across multiple companies. So, you know, when they're maybe doing their own version of an anonymous job ad, it's going to be quite high level the same thing. The idea being you'd maybe put multiple candidates forward for, sorry, the same candidate forward for different roles. so you are essentially looking for the same profile and the same person really but when it is the business or you know HR let's say putting together a job ad to advertise their company or trying to attract candidates to work at their company you would probably expect a little bit more tailoring nuance to it.

9:36Florian Faes:However, if this is an entirely new role and function potentially within both companies, then yeah, why not? Saves on the admin, saves on the writing.

9:49Esther Bond:I'm actually a little torn on this. On the one hand, you're like, sure, if OpenAI spent a ton of time and thought on this ad or spent some time and some thought on this ad, like if I'm in a similar business like you said, like why wouldn't I copy? Now that said though, if I was a candidate and be like, well, you guys are copy pasting the exact thing, like obviously it can't be the exact same role. And like when you're talking about go to market legal and all these other things, like I would feel that they're not taking this hire super seriously. I think they'll still get enough candidates.

10:28Florian Faes:I've got to say. No, no, no, no. No, but what I mean, like, okay, now then you do join and, okay, let me try to rephrase this.

10:38Esther Bond:So you have an internal problem, you have an internal challenge, right? Yeah. And then you put together a job ad that reflects that challenge. And the outcome is an original job ad, which is customized to the challenge at hand. And then as a candidate, like, well, I'm obviously joining a company that's thinking its challenges through and I am now filling this role. And this feels like, okay, we need a localization manager. Let's get some ad. And then, okay, I join. And whatever it was in the ad is obviously not really the reality. I'm just joining and I'm expected to do something, probably not all the things that we're in the job ad.

11:23Esther Bond:So I feel a little bit like, are you guys like serious about this? Like, what do I need to do?

11:28Florian Faes:I know what you're saying. I think I've seen these sorts of roles in the past where a company that previously hasn't had a localization function or any kind of localization personnel, they know that they need something, but maybe they don't know what the ins and the outs of that role might be. So the point is, get the person that seems like they can deliver this or has done similar things in the past, get that person into the role and that person will kind of need to build everything around them. So, yeah, maybe there isn't anybody, the person responsible for the job ad or the hiring manager might not, I mean, probably is not expert in localization or language.

12:09Florian Faes:So I know what you mean, like the signals that are being sent are very much, we need a person who knows about this. But that being said, I think they will find that person.

12:25Esther Bond:Yeah, they will find that person. They will find that person, I'm sure. Especially with the salary attached. Yeah, like 200K a year. Yeah, I mean, it was like even an hour after this was posted, that had like 100 applications already or something like that. Well, anyway, good luck, Perplexity. And if you have questions around how to hire a localization manager, you can always call us. We have a consulting practice that's more than happy to help you. And yeah, if you do end up being the selected localization manager at Perplexity, we'd be happily... Join the podcast. Join the podcast, speak at SlaterCon, speak at SlaterCon remote, which is coming up in December, early December.

13:09Esther Bond:Now, I wonder if RWS copy pasted a rival LSI's ad when they were hiring their new CFO. I'm going to say no. Probably not. They probably didn't put out an ad. They probably paid some like, you know, expensive recruiter. Executive search. 30 % of the CFO's salary. No, anyway, let's move on. RWS announces strategic Q4 leadership hires, So two senior hires at RWS, what do we know about this?