  Recent years have seen an increasing number of studies around the design of
computer-assisted interpreting tools with integrated automatic speech
processing and their use by trainees and professional interpreters. This paper
discusses the role of system latency of such tools and presents the results of
an experiment designed to investigate the maximum system latency that is
cognitively acceptable for interpreters working in the simultaneous modality.
The results show that interpreters can cope with a system latency of 3 seconds
without any major impact in the rendition of the original text, both in terms
of accuracy and fluency. This value is above the typical latency of available
AI-based CAI tools and paves the way to experiment with larger context-based
language models and higher latencies.
