AI Translation Tools Disrupt Human Translators' Livelihoods as Work Dries Up
By
myk-e
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Summary
The article examines how AI-powered machine translation is disrupting the translation industry, with human translators losing significant income as EU institutions and other clients shift to AI tools. It features interviews with translators like Timothy McKeon who lost 70% of his income when EU translation work dried up, and others who now only get work polishing machine translations. The piece explores the ethical dilemma of whether to accept such work that helps train the AI systems replacing them, and discusses how the technology is affecting both freelance and in-house translators across Europe.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledHe says he lost about 70% of his income when the EU translation work dried up.
Now, available work consists of polishing machine-generated translations, jobs he refuses 'on principle' because they help train the software taking his work.
While workers worldwide ponder how artificial intelligence might affect their livelihoods, there's one sector where that question is no longer hypothetical.
Machine translation has reduced the amount of work available to human translators and interpreters, and depressed their earnings.
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