Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI) vs. AI Translation

What is Remote Simultaneous Interpretation (RSI)?

RSI is a service where simultaneous interpreters work from home, an office, or another location instead of an on-site interpreting booth. The defining feature is the platform itself: it carries a separate channel for the interpreter to listen to the source audio and another channel to stream their interpreted audio out to listeners.

It works for fully online conferences, but also for in-person events. A microphone and camera are set up at the venue, and the interpreter receives that feed remotely to interpret it live. Attendees listen through an on-site receiver or a phone app. Because no one needs to travel or set up an interpreting booth, RSI fits multi-site international conferences and locations where it's hard to book local interpreters.

Where RSI fits

Since a human is doing the interpreting, just as with in-person simultaneous interpretation, RSI suits:

• International conferences and summits with three or more languages in the room
• Specialized fields like diplomacy, medicine, or law, where mistranslation isn't acceptable
• Panel discussions with multiple speakers talking at once, or lots of spontaneous back-and-forth
• Events in locations where flying in local interpreters is difficult or expensive

All of these call for an interpreter's judgment and grasp of context. When a conversation depends on reading nuance, technical terms, and tone, a human interpreter still outperforms AI.

RSI providers typically staff each language pair with a small team of interpreters who rotate periodically to manage fatigue, the same practice used for in-person simultaneous interpretation. For an event running several hours across multiple languages, that means a fair number of interpreters need to be booked, briefed, and scheduled around time zones if they're working from different countries.

How it differs from AI translation

AI voice translation converts the speaker's audio automatically and delivers it to attendees' devices as translated captions or audio. The core difference from RSI is simple: a human interprets, or an AI does. That single difference drives gaps in accuracy, cost, and how quickly you can set things up.

Which one should you choose?

1. For specialized meetings in diplomacy, medicine, or law where mistranslation isn't acceptable, choose RSI.
2. For large international conferences juggling three or more languages, RSI is the safer bet.
3. For a meetup or study session of a few dozen people with limited budget and lead time, AI translation is the practical choice.
4. If every attendee has a phone and you need to start the same day, AI translation fits better.

The two aren't really competitors — they split along scale and budget. Large-scale, high-accuracy needs point to RSI; small-scale, low-budget needs point to AI translation. That's the simplest way to think about it in practice.

Lead time is often the deciding factor in practice. Booking RSI interpreters usually means confirming availability, sharing slide decks and speaker notes in advance, and testing the platform's audio channels before the event. AI translation skips most of that: since there's no human schedule to work around, organizers can often confirm a plan just days — sometimes hours — before doors open.

VoxFlight: an option for small events

VoxFlight is a live translation service in the AI voice translation category, built for small in-person events — technical meetups, university lab seminars, internal study sessions, demo days, and similar gatherings. Organizers start a session with just an iPhone and an internet connection, then display a QR code at the venue. Attendees scan it with their phone's browser and receive translated captions and translated audio. No app install or account is required.

The talk's language and the translation language are both chosen per session. Unlike RSI, there's no interpreter to book in advance — setup happens the same day.

For two target languages, the complete two-language pass is purchased once in the App Store for the same duration and attendee limit. It is not an add-on after buying a one-language pass, and the total is shown before purchase.

VoxFlight is currently in pre-launch and taking waitlist signups. The prices above are planned pricing. Once paid purchase is available, the App Store processes payment when a session pass is purchased; the purchased pass is consumed when translation starts.

VoxFlight isn't a fit for everything, though. It's not built for medical or legal interpretation where errors aren't acceptable, large conferences that staff a dedicated interpreting team, or panel discussions where multiple people talk at once. For those cases, human simultaneous interpretation — including RSI — is worth the cost.

Frequently asked questions