Can a Machine Translate Desire?
#reflections #newspaperinlearning
Managing Quality Shifts in the Age of AI
Today, even as the International AI Impact Summit 2026 begins in New Delhi, and Global tech leaders from around 20 countries, including Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman and Bill Gates are expected to participate, and India is pitching for a “human-centric” approach to AI aimed at the “economic good” of all, I was quite taken aback reading a particular article in today’s Times of India, titled, “What French romance novels could tell us about AI and translation jobs”.
The article highlights the shocking move by the renowned romance novel publisher Harlequin France for testing AI-powered translation (with a company called Fluent Planet) to lower costs and speed up production - something that has sparked controversy and intense debate in the translation industry.
Professional translation groups have called the move “unacceptable!”
On the other side, interest from other publishers is growing, with Fluent Planet reporting that, there is an increasing demand for their “hybrid” model (AI translation under human supervision).
The article highlights fears that translators will become irrelevant in the future, with political figures like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz predicting that interpreters may one day be obsolete.
The article also throws light on the technological revolution that’s “threatening” translations in general, and the human translator in particular.
A translation industry survey in Britain suggested that more than one-third of translators had lost work to AI. According to that report, “All point the finger to an indiscriminate use of language technology, in particular artificial intelligence and dedicated machine translation, to cut costs and replace or minimise human translation work.”
Unlike other industries, which are just beginning to grapple with the implications of AI, the disruption in translation is well under way. In the past few years, AI-powered tools have been improving digital translations and making realtime subtitles more accurate.
The writer looks at the situation as a ‘canary in the coal mine’ kinda predicament, quoting that, when it comes to simple tasks, already, AI is “more consistently accurate than humans”.
She ends the article in a tone of resignation, by asking a highly pertinent question, “How do we manage the resignation and quality shifts?”
In particular interest is the second part of the question –
“How do we manage the resignation and quality shifts?”
Quality Shifts??? ☹
The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind… ☹
PS: You may want to read a lovely interview done by six of our
present II MA English students, two years ago, with veteran translation
specialist Dr. Hepzhibah, University of Edinburgh, during her visit to MCC, on our past blogpost
HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment