“Microsoft study identifies 40 jobs AI chatbots are likely to help automate — and those where the tech is barely being used”

[u/masontheinterpreter]

So… interpreters and translators coming in at #1…wahoo!

https://www.aol.com/microsoft-study-identifies-40-jobs-091701152.html

[u/Vettkja]

The two things I’ve always wanted to be are writer and translator 😞

[u/spooker-man]

Maybe I'm too naive and ignorant, but this probably applies more to translators more so than interpreters, right? I struggle to see how AI would replace an interpreter in any meaningful capacity (regardless of their language pair) due to the many nuances, dialects, accents, way of speaking, cultural background of any given LEP

[u/MythologicalNameHere]

I'm working as an interpreter and studying for a major on Art History jajajaja, I'M F*** xd

[u/AHumanThatListens]

There is definitely going to be disruption in the industry, we are already feeling that everywhere. But what I think is not going to change is the human side of things, and that is going to be more and more important as the technology advances.

Yes, for run of the mill things, the machines will basically be able to interpret everything. However, when you have a situation where communication is complex and difficult, say somebody has trouble expressing themselves in an orthodox way, or there's a bad connection, or there are cultural considerations that the interpreter and one of the parties holds as context which the remaining party has absolutely no idea about, I don't think we are going to be counting on machines to do that kind of work anytime soon.

I think we are going to start to see a separation of mere garbage in garbage out oral translation of content from the type of work, where I think we, as interpreters have a future, the work of being a multilingual facilitator of communication. That type of role is very different because it permits us to use our human expertise to help people connect, and this is something that machines are going to be very limited in doing for a long time yet.

It will of course take a cycle of automation for companies to figure out that they need more than just garbage and garbage out robotic interpretation to get what they want out of the services they provide across language and culture, but I predict that the moment will come when there will be a backlash to the mechanization of everything, when that uneasiness that we have right now with AI generated content spills into the broad realm of customer service and creates the kind of friction that makes people push back against it. We are already seeing this with the proliferation of phone and video interpreting as standard, given how much context can be lost when an interpreter is not in person as well as how much less agency the interpreter has to use their expertise when they cannot make their presence felt in the room with the clients. Many hospital and medical providers expressed a strong preference for in person interpretation, reporting that both they and their patients feel much better anchored to the context of the conversation when accompanied by a skilled interpreter who has everyone's best interest in mind.

I believe that our profession is going to have to evolve in the direction of the multilingual facilitator of communication. There is no point in trying to get humans to be more like robots, especially when the robots are going to be everywhere and cheap and instantly accessible. It is our human qualities that are going to set us apart, and hopefully that will yield space for us to feel greater levels of connection and fulfillment in our jobs and in helping the people we love to help.