There is no doubt that in recent months AI (artificial intelligence) has greatly enhanced the capabilities of MT (machine translation) engines, and that this is having a seismic impact on the translation industry.
In view of this, the JAT Board is intending to issue a public statement on the effects of AI machine translation on the Japanese-English translation industry and to formulate official JAT policies and positions in regard to this subject. To this end, the Board is seeking to canvas the views and opinions of JAT members, so that these may inform our official statements and policy positions.
We are planning to hold two online open meetings (for JAT members only) so that we can engage with the entire membership and hear your thoughts on this controversial topic. The two meetings will essentially cover the same ground, and any JAT member is most welcome to attend either (or both) of the sessions. We are holding two meetings (rather than just one) in order to try and ensure that all JAT members have a reasonable chance of being able to attend—wherever they are in the world. Each meeting will last approximately two hours.
We are naturally interested in hearing any and all of your thoughts on this topic; however, the following questions may serve as useful food for thought in preparation for these meetings:
• Do you work in-house or as a freelancer?
• If freelance, do you work primarily for agencies, for direct clients, or for a mixture of the two?
• Do you currently use machine translation (AI or otherwise) in your work?
• Are you being offered MTPE (machine translation post-editing) jobs? If so, are these wanted or unwanted?
• What do you regard as the strengths and limitations of machine translation?
• Are the capabilities and limitations of machine translation different in any way for the J<>E language pair, compared to other language pairs?
• Are the capabilities and limitations of machine translation different for J-to-E and E-to-J translation?
• How is AI MT affecting your work and your livelihood?
• How do you intend to navigate the future (e.g. with increased sales efforts; by acquiring new skills within the translation field; by changing career)?
• Aside from practical considerations, are there potential ethical problems with the use of machine translation?
• How do you think that AI MT is affecting the industry in general?
Moderators: members of the JAT Board (including Phil Robertson, Sakigake Kamimura and Yukari Watanabe)
Registration (required)
JAT members: free (This is a members-only event—you will need to be logged in to jat.org in order to register.)
Registration deadline: midnight (24:00) JST, Saturday 9th March, 2024
Note: Session Two (on 14th March) will cover the same ground as Session One. Members are welcome to attend either session or both.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact JAT via e-mail at [email protected].
* Tickets are displayed only when you are logged in.