Guy Piekarz, CEO of Panjaya – Interview Series

What lessons did you take from your experience building and selling Matcha to Apple that you’re applying to Panjaya?

Building and selling Matcha to Apple gave me a deep understanding of the importance of user-focused product development, strategic partnerships, and agility in a dynamic market. During my time at Apple, I saw firsthand the challenges of scaling content for global audiences, especially in localization and video translation. The inefficiencies of traditional dubbing inspired me to find a more innovative solution, which led me to Panjaya. Today, we’re applying those lessons by developing intuitive, AI-driven localization tools, collaborating with leaders like TED and JFrog, and staying adaptable to meet the evolving needs of a global audience – principles that drive everything we do as we work to redefine video localization.

What are the most significant inefficiencies in traditional dubbing and subtitling, and how is Panjaya addressing them?

Outdated solutions like closed captioning or traditional dubbing are often distracting and disrupt the viewer’s experience by failing to synchronize the nuances of communication, such as body language, facial expressions, and gestures along with the translated audio. Recognizing a need for a more advanced approach that goes beyond mere audio translation, Panjaya sought out to offer localized video content that resonates naturally and authentically with audiences around the world.

Unlike other platforms that focus solely on audio or lip synchronization only, Panjaya synchronizes audio with the full spectrum of body language – pauses, emphasis, gestures, and other body movements. This ensures a more natural, emotionally resonant connection with audiences, making Panjaya’s solutions unique in our ability to retain the integrity of the original content.

With AI dubbing, lip-syncing, and voice cloning, how do you ensure authenticity and cultural resonance across diverse audiences?

Panjaya is focused on deep-real technology, meaning we aim to represent speakers accurately and authentically. We work exclusively with trusted partners and businesses, ensuring that our technology is used ethically to enhance communication rather than mislead or misrepresent.

Panjaya is working with industry leaders like TED and JFrog. Can you share a success story that highlights the platform’s impact?

TED, a global platform for sharing ideas, has seen extraordinary results using Panjaya to adapt their talks for international audiences, including:

• 115% increase in views of dubbed talks
• 2x increase in video completion rates
• 69% increase in non-English browser views
• 30% increase in social sharing
• Over 10M views and 400K interactions on highlight reels

JFrog,  a DevOps and software distribution leader, hosts SwampUP, an annual conference showcasing industry advancements and thought leadership. Recognizing the importance of engaging their global audience, JFrog had already localized written content—but with video becoming the dominant medium, expanding accessibility was the next logical step. By leveraging Panjaya, JFrog seamlessly provided multilingual conference talks, ensuring their French and German-speaking users could fully engage with key product announcements and insights, driving deeper connection and broader reach.

What challenges do you foresee as AI dubbing technology becomes more widely adopted, and how is Panjaya preparing to address them?

One challenge is ensuring the output accounts for cultural context and nuance. That’s why we enable a human-in-the-loop approach—keeping it fast and seamless, with AI handling the heavy lifting while humans provide quick, intuitive refinements to ensure the final product feels natural and true to the speaker’s intent, while accounting for cultural differences.

Scalability is also something we think about constantly. As more industries adopt AI-driven solutions, we’ve invested heavily in R&D to make sure Panjaya can handle the complexities of real-world scenarios, from multi-speaker events to varying camera angles. For us, it’s all about staying ahead of these challenges while ensuring the technology is impactful, ethical, and accessible for everyone.

How do you see AI reshaping the future of video content creation and global accessibility?

Traditional barriers to global communication—language, time, and resources—are rapidly disappearing. AI-powered localization ensures higher accuracy and quality at scale, making it faster and more cost-effective for organizations to engage global audiences. With Panjaya’s platform, localization goes beyond words—capturing facial expressions, gestures, and emotional delivery to preserve the speaker’s true intent. This synchronization makes content feel native in any language, allowing organizations to connect with international audiences as if speaking directly to them.

Beyond accessibility, AI also enables deeper personalization—adapting tone, pacing, and delivery style to resonate with different cultural expectations. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, creators can tailor video content to feel more authentic and culturally relevant, driving the next generation of global storytelling.

While real-time AI localization isn’t here yet, it’s on the horizon—bringing us even closer to a world where language is no longer a barrier to connection.

What role does human oversight play in Panjaya’s AI dubbing process to maintain quality and nuance?

Our platform is built with collaboration in mind. Our dubbing studio  offers intuitive tools that allow human reviewers to fine-tune speech rhythm, tone, and pacing, ensuring every detail aligns with the original speaker’s intent. Our human-in-the-loop approach ensures that the final output doesn’t just translate words but captures the heart of the message, making the content feel as impactful in the target language as it does in the original.

How does Panjaya ensure ethical use of its technology, particularly in preventing misuse like misinformation or impersonation?

It’s an issue we discuss and think a lot about.We are deeply committed to the ethical use of our technology. Our mission is to empower storytellers to seamlessly adapt video content for global audiences, but never at the expense of integrity or trust.

To prevent misuse, we take a number of steps. First, we only work with organizations that provide contractual guarantees regarding the content they translate. Second, we take a firm stance against misuse—our platform must never be used to impersonate individuals, spread misinformation, or cause harm. To uphold this, we are actively developing both policy and technological safeguards, including content detection and blocking measures, as well as tools to identify content generated through our platform. We are continuously refining our approach to ensure AI-driven localization remains a force for responsible, authentic communication.

What does success look like for Panjaya in the next five years, and how do you plan to achieve it?

Success for Panjaya means becoming the go-to video localization solution for any company with a global audience—or one looking to expand globally. Our focus is twofold: authenticity and scalability. On the authenticity front, we’re advancing AI to capture emotional tone, pacing, and cultural nuance so that every localized video feels as natural and impactful as the original.

For scalability, we’re tackling increasingly complex use cases—handling more speakers, diverse backgrounds, and dynamic video formats. At the same time, we’re prioritizing seamless integration into existing video creation workflows, ensuring effortless adoption through partnerships with leading video management and localization platforms. By pushing the boundaries of AI-driven localization, we aim to redefine how businesses communicate across languages—making global storytelling truly frictionless. Our work with TED is a great example of how these workflow integrations are being used.

The global video market is rapidly evolving. What trends do you see shaping its future, and how is Panjaya positioned to capitalize on them?

The global video market is being shaped by two major trends: the rapid growth of video as a primary communication tool across all levels—from individual creators to large enterprises—and the increasing need for businesses to expand globally to drive growth. As video consumption surges, companies must ensure their content resonates across languages and cultures. AI-powered localization is becoming essential—not just for translation, but for preserving authenticity, tone, and emotional impact at scale.

Panjaya is strategically positioned to capitalize on these trends by seamlessly integrating into existing video creation workflows, making global expansion effortless for businesses. Our technology is built for scale, allowing companies to localize content efficiently without compromising quality. Most importantly, we ensure that brands maintain authenticity—preserving their voice, tone, and message across languages and cultures to create video experiences that resonate worldwide.

As the market continues to demand more advanced localization and personalization capabilities, we’re not just following these trends—we’re driving them, enabling organizations to connect meaningfully with audiences worldwide.

Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit Panjaya.