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Is our profession dead?
Thread poster: Levan Namoradze
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 21:44
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
HeyGen Sep 18, 2023

I wonder what will happen when this AI video generator makes a politician say anything, even what he/she doesn’t want to say, in faultless French or whatever language (the so-called deep-fake videos)…

conejo
Philip Lees
Tony Keily
 
Lingua 5B
Lingua 5B  Identity Verified
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 22:44
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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On being convinced etc. Sep 18, 2023

Tony Keily wrote:

A story was recently posted on the Italian Journalists' Association news site entitled 'Matteo Salvini's Faultless French':

https://www.agi.it/politica/news/2023-09-17/lega-salvini-intelligenza-artificiale-video-francese-invito-pontida-23067752/

The story tells us how Lega party leader Salvini was able to address his French invitees in their own language using the IA HeyGen platform that apparently also lip-synced his speech.

For me the important point here is that the article tells its Italian readership that the politician could speak in 'faultless French, without the need for an interpreter' thanks to AI. This is because the threat from new technological solutions is directly linked to the extent to which the average person is convinced of their potential and the extent to which the media confirms any positive impressions. A version of this story was carried across all print media in the country.

What's important is that the journalist in this case is convinced that the solution in question offers 'faultless French', not our eventual specialist view of the end product. We can feel as irreplaceable as we like, and claim as much as we want that our nuanced human talents will never be replicated by machines. (I'm pretty sure that a century ago tailors and shoemakers scoffed at the idea that their handmade bespoke items would be replaced by shoddy mass-produced industrial products.) But the impact on our profession will be determined by outside, general perceptions, and the platform they are given.


They can be convinced all they want, once he meets other French people in person, he won’t be able to utter a word in French. Then the whole “convinced” thing will just vanish. AI gimmick gone.

P.L.F. Persio
Tony Keily
 
Tony Keily
Tony Keily
Local time: 22:44
Italian to English
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You're right: even AI only does one job at a time (for now) Sep 20, 2023

Lingua 5B wrote:
once he meets other French people in person, he won’t be able to utter a word in French.


To be fair to the journalist and readers, I don't think any of them thought that the AI tool had magically transformed Matteo Salvini into a permanent blurry hologram of himself, able to spill out perfect French at will and leave a trail of unemployed interpreters strewn in his wake.

Unfortunately that's how translation works: one job at a time. You can translate a contract into English for customer, but when they get into that all important meeting with their new partner, they too may be shocked to discover that your excellent work hasn't given them any super-powers of speech.

The tool in question wouldn't even have worked for live addresses. In fact, I imagined his transalpine pals giving Matteo Salvini a quick call to congratulate him on his French and bursting his linguistic bubble (although after 12 years as an MEP in Strasbourg, attendance record notwithstanding, I doubt that Mr Salvini isn't 'able to utter a word in French').

The significance of the story was that, for the job in question, journalists across the news spectrum were ready to shout 'no need for an interpreter'. Apply that to members of any other profession, and I think they'd see it as sub-optimal. But maybe we translators are made of sterner (and of course ineffably human) stuff!

[Edited at 2023-09-21 08:03 GMT]

[Edited at 2023-09-21 08:07 GMT]

P.L.F. Persio
 
Juno Bos
Juno Bos  Identity Verified
Zambia
Local time: 22:44
Member (2011)
German to Dutch
+ ...
Absolutely not dead "yet" Sep 24, 2023

Marijke Singer wrote:

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida wrote:

Not at all! Since the pandemic work has been more irregular than ever. For instance, in July I had almost no work and in August I was flooded with work the whole month. September is looking good, too. All in all, things look pretty alive…


Similar situation. April and July very quiet (50% of what I normally do) and August was 250% and September around 120% so far.


Same here as well. Otherwise we all need to become Sarah Connor

expressisverbis
Angie Garbarino
 
Bartosz Kurkiewicz
Bartosz Kurkiewicz
Poland
Local time: 22:44
English to Polish
+ ...
Call me unreasonably optimistic but... Dec 13, 2023

...takes a bit of time until people actually start reading into the AI outputs and find out that our new machine overlords have no clothes.
In any case, wish they would come round sooner, but I'm willing to grit my teeth and wait it out just a bit longer.

Becca Resnik
P.L.F. Persio
expressisverbis
Anne Seerup
 
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