AI and Translation: Friend or Foe? 

By Konstantinos Menyktas

Does AI improve the work of translators, and does it lower translation costs for clients? The answer isn’t as simple as it seems. Some translators worry about losing their jobs or that AI will make their job extremely cheap. But the reality is far more nuanced.

Recently, my colleague Elena Koutounidou and I attended a conference on “The Skills of Modern Linguists,” organized by Women in Localization Greece, where six incredible women panelists discussed the impact of technology and AI on our profession. The conclusion was clear: “Don’t panic. Our profession may evolve, but it won’t disappear. Technology is here to assist people, not replace them.”

How AI Helps Translators: A Personal Perspective

In my role as an in-house translator for a news portal, I translate articles from Russian and Greek into English, focusing on religion, spirituality, and politics. AI has undoubtedly helped improve my work, allowing for faster translations and, in some cases, reducing my task to simple proofreading. For example, AI often produces excellent results for political articles or brief news pieces. It also delivers excellent summaries of articles, improves parts of translated texts, and helps with the creation of social media posts.

However, when dealing with complex texts—such as those involving difficult religious terminology, complicated speeches, political opinions, or editorial commentary—AI falls short. It struggles with recognizing irony, propaganda, or the unique tone of a speaker, a journalist or an editor-in-chief, often changing the intended meaning of the original text. Additionally, homilies from priests are often delivered in a conservative form of the Greek language, which AI struggles to understand, leading to mistranslations and misinterpretations.

In these cases, translations are done from scratch, with AI serving as a supplementary tool rather than a solution. Thus, I rely on my experience, expertise and glossaries. The same goes for translations from English to Greek, since AI’s results aren’t satisfying in most cases.

The Cost Factor: Does AI Lower Translation Rates?

AI can reduce costs, but the extent depends on the type of text. When clients request Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE), I always review a sample before setting a rate (an hourly rate is more common). If the AI-generated text is good, the editing process is faster and cheaper. However, if the result is poor, more time and effort is required, resulting in higher rates. MTPE rates also vary based on factors such as the type of document (e.g., technical, financial, legal), the volume of content, and the project deadline.

In my experience, AI performs well with certain types of content, including straightforward texts without specialized terminology, website content, and social media content. Yet higher quality translations are produced by translation tools supported by Translation Memories (TMs) and glossaries. In such cases, when I am tasked to post-edit or proof-read a translation, rates are often lower.

However, legal, financial and medical documents present a different story. These texts demand precision and an understanding of complex systems, making AI-generated translations risky. As I’ve written in my previous article “Legal Translation & AI: Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Legal Liability?”, errors in these contexts can have serious consequences. Therefore, translation, post-editing or proof-reading rates must reflect the expertise required.

The Role of Translators in an AI-Assisted Future

AI is undoubtedly a powerful tool for translators and clients, sometimes offering significant time and cost savings. However, languages and documents are deeply contextual, and the human touch remains necessary. While in some cases, AI may shift our roles toward proofreading or post-editing, expert linguists will always be needed—especially for technical, legal, financial, and literary texts where AI is not able to deliver high-quality results.

The bottom line? There’s no need to panic. AI can make our lives easier, but it cannot replace the human eye and our expertise. We will undoubtedly need to enhance our technical skills in areas related to AI and technology, such as prompt engineering and other emerging fields. These advancements will not only broaden our expertise but also ensure we are well-compensated for our specialized knowledge. In some cases, translation costs may decrease, but the value of skilled professionals will remain high, ensuring accurate and high-quality results.

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