Brussels, 11 September 2024 – Faced with the massive expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of translation, press articles announcing the imminent demise of translation professions are coming thick and fast. Yet, the future is not as dark as that. AI is not a threat, but an additional tool. Flesh and blood translators retain an indispensable value-added when texts are intended for professional use.
AI, a revolution that needs putting into perspective
Since the emergence of the first machine translation software programmes some twenty years ago, observers have predicted the demise of human translators. With the advent of AI and deep learning models, these predictions are once again to the fore.
True, AI has undeniable advantages: cost, speed, accessibility and the capacity to process large volumes of text in a few seconds. Nevertheless, in the large majority of cases, these performances do not meet the requirements of in-depth professional quality. As soon as the texts have complexities, subtleties or editorial imperfections, errors proliferate.
Hallucinations
One of the principal dangers lies in the hallucinations experienced by artificial intelligence: when AI does not understand something, it invents its own interpretation without seeking clarification from the author of the original, which the human translator would. These often major, randomly-generated errors can have serious consequences, in particular in the legal and medical domains.
That is why AI-generated texts, if they are intended for professional use, at the very least require scrupulous revision by a human expert before being used. Only well-trained professionals are capable of providing the necessary corrections, fine-tuning the nuances and guaranteeing an astute cultural adaptation. Moreover, far from marking the end of this profession, AI, like other tools, is being added to the palette of professional translators.
Confidentiality
The confidentiality of data is another worrying issue. Unlike human translators, who are bound by strict deontological codes, AI systems do not offer the same security guarantees for sensitive information. Using a free-of-charge automated platform constitutes a risk that business companies and institutions must not ignore. In this case, human translators retain a central role in advising clients on appropriate solutions and ensuring the use of professional tools offering all the security and confidentiality guarantees required.
The future of artificial intelligence in the translation sector
AI should therefore be considered a tool, not a threat. Like the translation assistance software programmes that became widespread twenty years ago and have improved productivity without replacing translators, AI enables professionals to focus on tasks with greater value-added.
It can today be noted that the market is developing into several segments: a segment with unverified quality, free-of-charge, generated by AI; a segment of average quality, where automatic translations are checked by a human corrector in order to remove the misinterpretations and glaring errors (called post-edition in the jargon); and an optimal quality sector, in which the translations are texts with a high level of quality, cultural adaptation, creativity, precision and confidentiality. This is the category in which professionals trained by our universities are situated, and their expertise remains in high demand on the market. They are not going to vanish any time soon.
One might think that the quality of the translation done by artificial intelligence will improve and encroach all the more on human translation. It would seem that the opposite is happening instead. In fact, AI is increasingly basing its learning on content that it has itself generated, which appears to be bringing about a growing concentration of errors and biases. Such ‘inbreeding’ could lead to a deterioration of the quality of the content over time, in the opinion of the researcher Jathan Sadowski, which applies de facto to translated content.
In this way, AI is without a doubt altering the landscape of translation, but it is not for all that sounding the death knell of the profession. Whilst it is true that more and more non-essential translations are being taken over by machines, human translators remain indispensable for texts requiring linguistic precision, cultural expertise, nuance and critical thinking.
| About the CBTI Created in 1955, the Belgian Chamber of Translators and Interpreters is a royal non-profit association. This trade organisation brings together translators and interpreters from the whole of Belgium and represents them at the Higher Council of Self-employed Persons and SMEs. Its aim consists of grouping the people working in a profession directly linked to translation or interpretation with a view to their mutual interest, to fine-tune work-related knowledge through permanent learning, to develop the prestige of the professions covered by the statutes and to defend the collective professional interests of its members. More information at: https://www.cbti-bkvt.org. The CBTI is a member of the International Federation of Translators (FIT). |
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