AI Has Not Replaced LanguageLine Interpreters, but It Has Worsened Their Working Conditions

Summary

LanguageLine Solutions interpreters say the company’s 2025 rollout of NiCE, an AI-powered workforce management system, has made their jobs more demanding without eliminating them. Workers describe breaks and shifts moving or disappearing with little notice, as well as gaps between calls shrinking to as little as 15 seconds during busy periods. A Communication Workers of America survey of 161 workers found that a majority reported high burnout, insufficient time between calls, and frequent back and neck pain. LanguageLine said the rollout coincided with industry pressures, including federal budget cuts and an immigration crackdown, and said operations had returned to normal after adjustments; its reported U.S. median time between calls from January through June 2026 was 2 minutes and 15 seconds, with an average of 5 minutes and 43 seconds. The company, purchased by Teleperformance in 2016, reported $1.1 billion in 2025 revenue and has about 24,000 interpreters worldwide, including nearly 3,000 in the United States. Workers also report tighter monitoring and penalties for events outside their control, while some say call volumes rose sharply. LanguageLine maintains that AI can handle simpler, high-volume, low-risk calls so human interpreters can focus on work requiring judgment and cultural nuance, and says a pilot operates in more than 10 languages without being intended to replace jobs. Workers and labor experts counter that automation may leave people with only the hardest calls under more intense monitoring. Because many assignments involve hospitals, immigration courts, emergency rooms and 911 calls, interpreters and the company acknowledge the continuing importance of human judgment. The workers’ union campaign, supported by New York City officials, is seeking a collective voice over schedules, breaks and how AI is deployed; management had not agreed to meet collectively with them at the time of publication.