Chutes and ladders -Thoughts about 2023

 

[tree with clouds in background*]

2023 has not been a simple year, including for the residents of the Middle East and translators. To be blunt, it has been a year of earthquakes of the existential type. Collecting my thoughts, the two must powerful forces have been artificial intelligence and, for too many of us, the Gaza War. They have tested the faith in the future but I have also seen a much quieter but no less powerful force: the ability of the human mind to focus on a problem and improve reality.

ChatGPT in its many forms has hit the world like a sledgehammer. I will not even claim that I fully understand the techniques and manner of using it but I do have some, if limited, comprehension of the effect. The capacity to allow an algorithm to create a reality according to custom-made requirements is an amazing tool. Millions of people, including professionals, use it as an active tool. However, as a translator, I do not feel threatened because, while it creates a virtual reality, a verisimilitude, its outcomes may have nothing to do with reality. I suggest asking an IA engine of your choice to provide details of your life. You will discover some amazing facts. To be fair, fantasy is a powerful engine for creating reality. Think about how many gadgets on the Star Trek series have become everyday products, including cell phones and universal translators. However, this year too many people forgot how it is not human. Think about how often people accept doctored pictures as proof. In the courts, almost amusingly, Michael Cohen invented some legal cases sympathetic to his case using AI and sent them to his lawyer, who cited them. The judge was not amused. Even in translations, it is sad to say that a few so-called translators believe that unedited machine translation is actually how people write. My wife just spent seven hours rewriting a Google-translate text that should have required some 2 hours to edit if the translator had actually done the work. Children understand that Wile E. Coyote cannot actually survive having a rock fall on him. Their parents should be aware that artificial intelligence is just that, artificial.

On a more tragic note, the Gaza War, or whatever name it will receive in the history books, has created an enormous human tragedy and still is at the time of writing. The number of dead, wounded and traumatized  victims in Israel and, yes, Gaza, Syria and Lebanon is heartbreaking. The economic damage will have an impact for a decade. On an even sadder note for me, the intensity of pure, unbridled hatred that the war has unleased has shaken the belief in the essential goodness of human beings. It is, again, okay to wish the death of anybody that disagrees with you. This wave of hate goes far beyond the borders of the Middle East and is impacting most of the world. It makes it appear that human beings have made no progress and maybe regressed over the centuries. I find that destructive urge, whether in words or acts, extremely distressing.

On the other side, through conferences I have attended, I have encountered, physically and virtually, so many people that dedicate their lives to solving small problems and find beautiful solutions. There are countless academics delving in the intricacies of fascinating processes not because of the money but because they want to enrich their mind and the world, although they do not reject money, of course. I have seen the work of so many translators who invest disproportional time to find the absolute translation not because it matters to the customer but because they believe that translation is an art and, thus, is worthy of the effort to reach people and perfection. It is this ability to ignore the macro and focus on the micro that gives me hope for a better world as complicated situations are solved one step at a time.

With a bit of a heavy heart, I try to look optimistically to the future. Artificial intelligence will not disappear but people hopefully will learn how to apply its usefulness and recognize its limitations. The Gaza war will end at some time, one way or another. People will rebuild their lives, albeit as different people than they were before the war. What will not change is that the silent majority will continue to find solutions to small problems and, knowingly or unknowingly, make the world a better place. In short, let’s hope for a gentler 2024.

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Staring at the technological future and present in the eyes – lessons from the 2023 conference of the Israel Translators Association

 

[owl*]

Nothing is more frightening than change and the unknown. This past week, the Israel Translators Association hosted several industry and technological leaders, who addressed the future of translation in the face of fast-developing technology. The participants in the conference gained an understanding of the impact of new developments in the field and practical approaches to future growth. The level of the presentations, both in terms of content and delivery, was extremely high without any significant overlapping, thus providing a perspicuous and broad view of the situation. The lecturers included Keith Brooks (To Grow, or Not to Grow, That is No longer the Question, But the Imperative), Zvi Gordon (Technology in the translation industry: current picture and a look at the future),  Katia Jimenez (Understanding the progress of artificial intelligence in language), Kirti Vashee (The changing translation technology landscape), Nora Díaz (Translation and Interpretation Technology: The Basics and Beyond) and Rafa Lombardino (Language Professionals: Technology is On Our Side), to name just a few. My conclusion from these lectures was that not only was technology already here and a part of the industry, it does not actually threaten translation or translators, nor does the new wonderchild, ChatGPT. Just as importantly, translators can and should study the emerging technology and harness it to their specific needs.

The dominant message was that the various forms of machine translation had already established a strong presence in the industry but not necessarily at the expense of human translators. Specifically, certain domains have fully adopted every-improving version of machine translation and use them almost exclusively. Interestingly, these domains are places where human translation could not tread, i.e., where the sheer volume, potential cost and limited context made machine translation the ideal tool. For example, companies such as Airbnb, Ali Express and Amazon need to localize thousands of words on a daily basis. By contrast, in areas where context, accuracy and style count, such as in law, medicine and marketing, the worldwide volume of human translation keeps on expanding. Referring to the human element, Ellen Elias-Bursać said in her lecture on interpreting and translating during the Hague War Crimes trials that the translators had to stand in court and justify their translation. Where ever there is that potential, whether in court or in front of any person, human translation and interpretation is the best option.

As for the latest craze, reaching 1 million users in only four months, ChatGPT is very interesting but not actually a threat to translation. Specifically, the speakers noted that the machine compiled text from existing corpus without discrimination of accuracy, bias or style of content. In other words, it was a random generator of text, somewhat regulated by the limitations imposed by the party entering the request. It can be valuable for identifying grammar mistakes or improving style or vocabulary, especially for non-native writers. However, as its output is not specific or accurate enough for most translating assignments, its value as a translator is quite limited.

In practice, the speakers consistently spoke of the need for translator to investigate any technology that may improve their work content or process. Clearly, it is possible to be successful without applying most if not all of the technological tools, but future success will probably depend on selective use of modern methods as well as understanding their advantages and limitations. The message for translators was that the future involved not only selectively adopting new technology but also changing the attitude towards it from complete fear to measured understanding.

As a demonstration of that approach, one of the speakers mentioned fully automated cars, noting that some major companies have stopped investing money on their development but are actively using them for moving goods from one building to another on a clearly defined route. The moral here is that not that the technology is not valuable but its effective use is limited by its lack of ability to make complex judgments. Likewise, where judgment is vital, human translators will have work. Yet, those that better leverage existing and emerging technology will have an efficiency advantage. To identify the appropriate tools, more than ever, translators need to keep an open mind in regards to technology. It is far less frightening than it would seem and may be quite benevolent. The future is in our hands as we learned at the ITA 2023 conference.

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