AI-Media LeaderSpeak: Interview with Tony Abrahams, Co-Founder & CEO

This is the written version of the podcast episode featuring Tony Abrahams, summarised for quick reading in a Q&A format. It captures how AI-Media is disrupting live content translation and accessibility with cutting-edge AI solutions.

1. Vitrina: How do you define AI-Media today, and what’s your elevator pitch?

Tony Abrahams:
AI-Media started 22 years ago as a captioning company, but today, we’re a workflow orchestration company embedding AI into our clients’ systems. We specialize in language-based AI services—live and recorded captioning, live voice translation, and AI summarization. Our flagship products—Lexi Text, Lexi Voice, and Lexi AI—are designed to help customers scale clarity and accessibility. For example, Lexi Voice, launched at NAB 2025, translates live TV broadcasts into other languages with less than 10 seconds of latency—allowing viewers to experience content in their preferred language in real time.

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2. Vitrina: What makes Lexi Voice such a breakthrough, and how is it better than previous solutions?

Tony Abrahams:
Lexi Voice has been six years in the making. What sets it apart is its real-time, human-free translation workflow. In 2018, we could only produce robotic translations using a re-speaker model. Now, with Lexi Voice, viewers can listen to live broadcasts—news, sports, events—in Korean, Japanese, Tagalog, or over 100 languages, hearing natural-sounding voice translations synced within 8.5 seconds of the original. At NAB 2025, users tried it with headphones and were blown away by how seamless it was. Imagine broadcasting a soccer match in London and instantly offering the same commentary in Hindi, Japanese, and Spanish—all without human interpreters.

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3. Vitrina: What infrastructure powers your solutions, and how is it deployed?

Tony Abrahams:
Everything starts with the encoder. Our encoder, developed through the EEG acquisition, is like the brain of the system. It parses live audio/video streams, syncs with media asset management systems, and routes only the necessary data to cloud AI engines. We’ve deployed over 6,000 encoders across US broadcasters. This same encoder powers both Lexi Text and Lexi Voice. For example, if a broadcaster in Chicago wants to deliver a Hindi voice track for their local news, they just need to plug in our encoder, and we handle the rest—transcription, translation, and audio delivery.

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4. Vitrina: How are you pricing Lexi Voice, and what value does it offer to broadcasters?

Tony Abrahams:
Lexi Voice is priced at just $30 per hour, per language pair. That’s a game changer. One of our broadcaster clients used to spend $4,000 an hour for Hindi commentary on cricket—now they can do it for 1% of that cost. With this affordability, even regional news in Chicago or sports events at Wembley Stadium can now be delivered in multiple languages, attracting broader and more diverse audiences without massive production costs. The ROI is immediate—just a few more viewers clicking on ads covers the cost.

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5. Vitrina: How are you expanding globally, and what’s your go-to-market strategy?

Tony Abrahams:
We use a 3×3 expansion grid: Broadcast, Government, Enterprise on one axis; Americas, EMEA, APAC on the other. Right now, we’re dominant in US broadcast. In Europe, we’ve scaled from 15 encoders sold last year to 150 this year, thanks to partnerships like the one with ITV. They switched to Lexi from Red Bee Media. That validation triggered a domino effect across European broadcasters. We also work with stadiums like Wembley and sports leagues like the PGA, delivering captions and soon live voice translation for audiences in-stadium or watching via apps.

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6. Vitrina: What makes Lexi AI different from Lexi Voice and Lexi Text?

Tony Abrahams:
Lexi AI is our newest innovation, still in pilot stage. It combines live data from Lexi Voice/Text with private LLMs and public models like GPT to offer tailored organizational insights. For example, we’ve worked with financial analysts to synthesize internal research data—like gathering all of JP Morgan’s views on Citibank and presenting it as a coherent answer. The system flags news about relevant companies, drafts LinkedIn updates, and even prompts next actions. It’s like a real-time, sector-agnostic Bloomberg for your internal IP.

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7. Vitrina: What’s your main differentiator versus other localization companies?

Tony Abrahams:
Our edge is in live. While many companies do well in episodic or archival localization, we specialize in live broadcast. Sports, breaking news, global conferences—events where real-time accessibility matters most. For example, at Davos in 2018, we were already translating live sessions with a re-speaker model. Now, with Lexi Voice, you can hear those experts in your own language—live—with natural voices, emotional cadence, and multilingual subtitles. That’s a powerful shift for global reach and retention.

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8. Vitrina: Where do you see the biggest future opportunities for AI-Media?

Tony Abrahams:
Corporate communications is the next frontier. Enterprises create hundreds of internal videos every week—townhalls, HR messages, product updates. Imagine translating those instantly into multiple languages for employees worldwide. We’re also exploring hardware partnerships to expand encoder reach into meeting rooms, not just broadcast racks. If your AirPods could become live encoders, suddenly the addressable market multiplies. We expect M&A to play a role—especially with partners who already have footprint in untapped sectors or geographies.