AI(n’t)

by | Apr 10, 2024 | blog, concepts, principles, standard, tools | 0 comments

AI isn’t just „the next big thing“. It IS the big thing, right now, right here. And it is here to stay. Transformative, forceful, ground-breaking, unsettling.

So, what is my take on AI, you may ask?

With every day that passes, I become more familiar with the variety of tools, their options, and their possibilities. My abilities in using AI have, unsurprisingly, improved. Some might find become part of my daily live, reshaping the way I work, some may get kicked out again.

My attitude towards it has changed much less.

I do see it as a potentially useful tool, which will relieve me of some of the more tedious, repetitive, monotonous tasks. Ai tools thereby increase the amount of time I can spend on being creative and productive. “Santa’s little helper” came to my mind while I was just thinking about what tasks I could / will outsource to AI-driven tools before long.

But I also see the risks associated with the regular and possibly careless use of AI.

Without trying to paint a gloomy picture, a line from “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” comes to mind:

Spirits that I’ve summoned
My commands ignore.

With great power comes great responsibility. And if you don’t know your own limitations, chances are the tool takes over. Let us just look at one of many examples:

The astonishing number of people, in- or outside the translation profession, who realise way too late that once they have shared any kind of text, information, thoughts, questions – all of which are nothing but data which AI uses to train and improves its abilities and results – that there is no way back, no deleting, no reclaiming any rights.

One rash and ill-considered input even of mere fragments of a translation project into an AI tool, and a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), honoured for years, could be broken. Privacy, data security, and control over data are gone at the push of a button. And no existing insurance will restore the trust that’s been betrayed and cannot be rebuilt.

And that’s just one of the main pitfalls of using AI. Have you ever considered that by what we feed into AI we shape its output? I wouldn’t put it past quite a few people to manipulate AI to harm any number of people, corporations, governments. Some might feed it with rubbish out of spite, some will not give their data input much thought at all. All its users, however, will be affected by its results. If any of you cares about their data, if any of you care about the impact manipulated data potentially has on society: this is your call to action!

I will share some more thoughts about AI and its multi-faceted characteristics in future blog posts.

For now, I want my colleagues and clients to rest assured:

Client data will not be fed into any AI tool – unless the client specifically allows it or asks for it. Data security and compliance with contracts and regulations are of the utmost importance and constitute the foundation of my business ethos.

Do my translations look therefore any different?

Maybe. They will be different in that my clients will receive outstanding, woman-made quality. Human translations for human recipients.

(Potential) clients who prefer a “quick and dirty” solution powered by AI should prepare themselves for the downside effects: performance that falls short of expectations, little or less customer contact, misunderstandings and missed opportunities, loss of control over their data, loss of competitive advantages.

Quality is human. AIn’t it?

About Verena Zipperer

Internal Auditor @ LBBW / Freelance Translator (Eng-Ger) @ freelance / Reviewer, MCIL

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