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February 17, 2023 |

AI is here to stay! How does it affect the translation industry?

With new AI tools getting perfected and gaining popularity, businesses worldwide are questioning how it affects them.

It’s no different in the translation industry. With the expansion of tools available on the market, it is important to think about how these tools can help the translation process and what other future possibilities exist.

Modern translation already uses CAT tools (you can learn about them in our feed). These CAT are no AI, but they offer important functions that speed up the process and increase accuracy.

There is no question that artificial intelligence does not replace human effort, especially when it comes to localization and transcreation, which involves, in addition to semantics, the understanding of the emotion and cultural context that the content intends to convey. However, AI can be used in some projects generating an initial draft that can be refined by a human.

In regards to the entertainment industry, from video games to movies and TV shows, AI is still very far behind when it comes to translation. These materials are directly related to art and human emotions, not only that, but local terms, slangs, and cultural references become extremely important. These projects always need a community manager and project manager to make sure audiences will be able to connect and the human element won’t be lost even if AI tools are being used for the initial draft.

Other businesses that are not related to entertainment also have their peculiarities. When preparing content for other language markets, transcreation, and localization are crucial, and AI is not able to accurately perform these tasks.

Take for example a marketing strategy for a brand that wants to expand overseas; you need a human speaker that is native to that region to make sure you are communicating in a way that truly connects with the local consumers.

Of course, we are only seeing the beginning. AI can definitely speed up productivity and provide more accurate translations, but it won’t replace human-powered intelligence anytime soon.