AI to surpass humans in translation

Melody Chen

Unbabel chief executive Vasco Pedro predicts people will no longer be undertaking translation work in three years.

The Portuguese startup, founded by the artificial intelligence expert, used its latest AI model to translate "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, with the results holding up well when compared to human translations.

The archaic English used in the text posed a considerable challenge. Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor from 161 to 180 CE, wrote the book to record his private notes and ideas on Stoic philosophy.

The model was also used to translate a wide range of content, from casual messages to complex legal documents.

Pedro said that while AI has developed, human involvement currently remains essential for high-quality translation, which is why humans account for about 95 percent of the global translation industry.

Experts in languages and specific fields like legal translators handling contracts currently perform better than machines.

But Pedro still believes that it's hard to imagine AI won't completely surpass humans within two or three years.

The godfather of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, warned that the pace of technological change is much faster than expected, and there is a 10 to 20 percent chance that artificial intelligence could lead to human extinction within the next 30 years.

Hinton said that most experts believe AI that is more intelligent than humans will be developed within the next 20 years, which is a frightening prospect, and he called for stronger government regulation.