<
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/16/survey-finds-generative-ai-proving-major-threat-to-the-work-of-translators>
"More than a third of translators have lost work due to generative AI, a survey
by the Society of Authors (SoA) has found. More than four in 10 translators
said that their income has decreased because of generative AI, while more than
three-quarters believe the emerging technology will negatively affect their
future income.
The SoA, the UK’s largest trade union for writers, illustrators and
translators, ran the survey in January. It found that 37% of translators had
used generative AI to support their work, and 8% used it because they were
asked by their publisher or commissioning organisation.
Thomas Bunstead, whose translations from Spanish include
The Book of All
Loves by Agustín Fernández Mallo, said it is important to draw a distinction
between literary translators and “commercial” translators. “Though a third of
translators have responded to the SoA survey saying they think they’ve lost
work to AI already, literary translation remains in the hands of humans,” he
said. “The work that has presumably been handed over to AI will be the kind of
uncomplicated bread-and-butter stuff which doesn’t require so much nuance,”
such as instruction manuals.
“Idiomatic, knotty and complex writing,” is likely to remain with human
translators, agrees Nichola Smalley, whose translations from Swedish and
Norwegian include
A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding by Amanda Svensson.
“But perhaps the people translating crime and romance novels who are currently
getting less work due to AI will all start getting into the complex stuff and
we’ll all be fighting for space in that niche. I hope not!”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
