Using AI for Translation: (When) is it Safe?

By Corinne McKay

If you’re a translation buyer, you’ve probably heard a lot of buzz lately about the artificial intelligence/machine translation (AI/MT) boom. No question about it, automated translation has come a long way since the early days of Google Translate. But is it, or when is it and when is it not, safe to use AI for translation? Let’s take a look! 

When translators talk about the current iteration of AI/MT, they often comment, this time feels different. What’s different? The fact that everyone knows about, and can easily use, the new generation of AI/MT tools. Translators have leveraged technology for a long time, in the form of translation memory tools that “recycle” terms, phrases, and sentences from old translations (done either by that translator or by someone else). 

But these tools, like the software tools used by many other professions (think accountants, web designers) were fairly opaque: expensive to purchase, and not simple to learn to use. By contrast, anyone who knows how to use a website (so: anyone!) can hop on DeepL or ChatGPT and paste in their text. 

Just because you can translate with ChatGPT or other AI tools, should you? 

Translators love to fixate on and make fun of AI/MT’s (frequent) hilarious errors. I translate from French to English, and I recently had a client ask me to review a translation in which their MT engine “translated” the name of the Swiss town “Aubonne” as “Augood.” The truth is that, although AI/MT is now quite accurate for “information-only” translations, most professional translators can identify an automated translation after reading the first couple of sentences. 

Just like every human’s writing style, every AI engine has a writing style, and it’s easy to spot! AI has very little understanding of nuance, subtlety, humor, or any of the other aspects of really good writing; it’s much faster than a human translator when it comes to “French word=English word” translations, but AI stumbles when it comes to well-crafted writing. 

Here’s the real question: is MT or AI-powered translation the right fit for your work? If you just want to know what something says in your language, or if you’re just trying to convey factual information in another language that machine translation engines handle well (don’t try this with less common languages!), AI/MT with a human reviewer can be a great option. 

A fast human translator can translate about 3,000 words in a typical workday. ChatGPT can do that while you grab a coffee, and “free” is obviously everyone’s favorite price. If you’re just trying to understand the basic terms of a contract, or if you want to write a quick, non-mission-critical e-mail, machine or AI language translation  can save a lot of time and money.

At the same time, I’m seeing an increasing number of translation clients who come to me, asking, “You don’t use automated translation software, do you??” They ask this for a few reasons:

1. They’re afraid, probably correctly, that confidential documents uploaded to an online AI/MT system may end up on the AI provider’s servers. 

I know that the paid versions of most MT engines promise not to do this, but I still think that clients worry about it, particularly in certain sectors. I translate for a couple of international family law firms, and here we’re talking about evidence documents that contain people’s most personal information: the details of why their kids were taken away, transcripts of phone calls between them and their abusive ex-spouse, the details of their investment portfolio and how it might be divided in a divorce, etc. etc. Those clients want as few eyes as possible on their documents.

2. They, too, are word people. 

The best and the worst thing about translating with ChatGPT, DeepL, etc. is that an AI/MT tool doesn’t spend half an hour thinking about the difference between three potential article headlines. DeepL doesn’t lie awake at night pondering the difference between the words “inquire” and “delve into,” or the difference between “profits rose significantly” and “profits skyrocketed.” When your business wants to inspire an emotional response in a reader; persuade or convince someone; when your business’ reputation or legal risk are on the line, you really want a specialized human translator on the job. 

3. They’ve been burned in the past. 

Many clients want a personal relationship with a translator (whether that person uses AI/MT or not) because they’ve been burned by a different model. Translation agencies fill an important role in the language industry. If you have to translate patient safety information about a medical device into 27 languages, you’re probably going to want to work with an agency. And it’s also true that clients who want consistency, a single point of contact, someone who’s going to know the right questions to ask and the right advice to give, are better off with a freelancer. 

As an example, I was translating some materials for one of my French university clients (they have “international programs” that are taught in English, into which they accept students who speak zero French). And I asked them, had they thought about any services or programs for their international students’ parents? Parent relations are pretty much nonexistent in the French university system, and I think they thought I was joking, until I gave them the example of my own daughter’s university, which hosts welcome events for parents, a family weekend, and maintains a parent Facebook group. This French school is a high-priced private university, and I told them that many American parents funding their kid’s education would be looking for this type of thing. AI doesn’t know this!

There are lots of pros and cons to AI, but I honestly think that, “Is there a difference between AI and human translation?” (yes, of course there is!!) is the wrong question, and that we’re better served by asking, “Is using MT or AI for translation the right decision  for the job?”

About the Author

Corinne McKay is an ATA-certified French to English translator and a Colorado court-certified French interpreter. A full-time freelancer since 2002, she served on the ATA Board for seven years, including as ATA President from 2017-2019. She is the author of How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, a how-to guide with over 15,000 copies in print.

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