​First, they tell you a new technology will help you translate faster, that you can become more productive and make more money.

Second, they automate with that same technology. Before long, they've dumbed down your work.

Finally, they cut your rates or replace you.

Technological innovation in the translation industry has repeated this cycle relentlessly and consistently for as long as I can remember.

If you've been a translator for any time at all, you've noticed the same thing, haven't you?

Do you think their game plan has changed now in the era of ChatGPT and other Generative AI models?

Of course not!

I bet you're cynical about AI in translation, maybe even scared, angry, tired... You name it…

I don't blame you for feeling that way. Why? Because I'm a translator just like you and I've had—and still have!—these emotions myself.

In fact, can I tell you something I'm especially tired of?

I’m especially tired of being told by people from the big LSPs, MT providers, and CAT/TMS tool makers how I'm supposed to just adapt to the new reality and get in line with their vision for the future… (Can anybody say "Pied Piper"?)

What's their vision anyway? Might it be to eliminate linguists from as much of the translation process as possible?

Um, yes, of course. Do you agree with me?

Don't even get me started on the mind-numbing grind and insulting mediocrity of machine translation post-edit (MTPE) workflows designed to suck the life out of the translation process and feed it back into lower prices.

Can we agree that MTPE wasn't designed by or for translators?

For that matter, are you inspired when they tell you that their new AI tool will do all the "hard, mundane work" for you so you can focus on the advanced "human tasks"?

I didn't think so…

How about all that lip-service nonsense to "human in the loop" workflows? What does that even really mean to them anyway?

Am I preaching to the choir?

I absolutely do not believe that blind adoption of any of the newfangled AI features in the mainstream tools will get us anywhere close to future-proofing our careers as translators.

There's no future in just following along, taking the work as it comes, doing it by the book, regardless of where it leads.
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What if I told you that the current Generative AI revolution that started with ChatGPT is different? That we can turn the tables this time? That Generative AI changes everything for translators?

Even if you're skeptical, do I at least have your attention?

I believe that with translator-centric tools and powerful AI workflows based on a revolutionary concept I call "expert-directed micro iteration", we, as translators, can run circles around our clients' centralized and standardized workflows.

Of course, we have to work in the tools of our trade.

But we can do better; we can upskill in ways that the machines cannot replicate. We can often even do so while "playing the game" within our clients' tools and workflows.

Will the machines ever catch up? I have no idea; in the long run, I guess. But as John Maynard Keynes says, "In the long run we are all dead."

In the meantime, we have a responsibility to ourselves, to our clients, to our families, to our profession (and probably to a few others I've forgotten in this list) to muster up the courage and march into the future with fingers on the trigger and our eyes wide open.
​
​Are you up to a fight you can win?

Let's consider four benefits for translators from Generative AI.

Generative AI Benefit #1 for Translators

Of course, Generative AI can enhance your translation productivity.

Whether you believe me at this point is up to you.

But I've seen the evidence... in the research, and in my own work and in the work of others. I don't think there's a valid argument to the contrary.

With the right techniques, Generative AI is too powerful not to give you translation superpowers. You can deliver better work than ever, faster.

If Generative AI can make you more productive, you'd have to find out how to use it, right?

But even if this were the only benefit of Generative AI, we'd still be trapped in the cycle I described above. Fortunately, this is not the case.

Generative AI Benefit #2 for Translators

Because Generative AI is so accessible AND because linguists are the ONLY competent operators at the intersection of technology and language in this new paradigm, we have an opportunity to expand our role in the translation process for the first time in decades.

How would you like to add more value in your work, not less?

In fact, this opportunity comes to us just as three major paradigms of our industry are being crushed by Generative AI. Conventional neural machine translation is dying. It may take CAT tools years to fully adapt to Generative AI. And translation memory—a pillar of our industry for at least the last 25 years—has become a depreciating asset….

No wonder many of the big LSPs, MT providers, and CAT/TMS makers are seeing their stock prices crater!

Generative AI Benefit #3 for Translators

Generative AI gives translators our voice back.

No longer are we slaves to poorly trained machine translation in soul-crushing workflows.

With the Generative AI Iterative Translation workflow, we can make the AI do our bidding. We can command the AI to translate in our voice, in our style, with our words…

Translating in your own words is what you've always wanted to do anyway, right?

And we can deliver jobs at the top of our skillset, doing so more efficiently than ever.

Generative AI Benefit #4 for Translators

Finally, these three benefits lead to ONE AWE-INSPIRING CONCLUSION:

As translators learn to deliver better work faster than ever, we can unlock vast volumes of content for human-directed translation that were not previously cost viable at quality.

And because the "big guys" are locked into their outdated paradigms and workflows, translators able to deliver at these super-human levels can look forward to a golden age of translation!

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Uh-oh... Did I lose you?

Did I just hear you say, "Hold on, Steven… A golden age? Huh?… You're full of sh...hype! Are you telling me that Generative AI can let me go back to doing everything I love about being a translator?"

In short, yes, I am…

We still have a long way to go. We have mountains to climb and battles to fight.

And I have to be honest with you. Nobody has completely figured this all out yet. Everything is new and the landscape is changing at a ridiculously fast pace.

I'm on this journey too, interacting with other like-minded translators, applying new techniques, learning new things every day, and recording as much of it as I can.

They say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a field. It's only been about 15,000 hours since ChatGPT dropped. Alas, I have not committed every single waking minute since late 2022 to learning about Generative AI.

So, I’m not an expert.

But I am a seeker, and I'm on this journey with you. I have been working and investing hard; some would say I've been obsessed.

​And together with our community, we have documented a lot of hard-hitting insights that can power-up your workflow.
​
​If you could tap into the current value we've unearthed, and be around for what our community discovers going forward, would you want to be part of that?

Here are the three elements of our vision so far:

Element #1 - Software

My team and I have created a tool called CotranslatorAI, which is designed to empower translators to reach our potential in Generative AI.

Is the tool finished? Is it perfect? No, of course not. We're still adding features (with a major update scheduled for Q4 of this year!).

But CotranslatorAI is unique, innovative, and powerful. It is already delivering value to hundreds of our users.

Would you use a tool that helps you deliver more value?

Element #2 - Training

I've now published over 12 hours of in-depth training for translators about using Generative AI.

The core of this content is made up of three masterclasses I call AI Workflow Integrators, designed to help you bridge the gap between knowing about AI and efficiently integrating AI into your daily work as a language professional.

I've also just released a beginner-level course, AI Gameplan for Translators.

This is not the shallow "Hey, here's another cool thing AI can do" type of training. Of course, it's got that too. But this is focused, intense, full-concentration content that will take you deeper than anything else out there.

The courses are even a work in progress. As we learn new techniques and as the technology evolves, attendees can look forward to updated and improving content.

Are you interested in learning how to apply Generative AI directly to your workflow?

Element #3 - Community

We've created AI4LanguageProfessionals, an online community for translators to discuss and stay connected to everything about AI in translation. The discussions there can get pretty deep, and it's a great place for translators to be right now.

You'd like to be among the first to find out about new ideas, new use cases, new prompts, and new models, wouldn't you?

Ultimately, we are working to build a movement that will guide our tribe of translators into the future.

If my message resonates with you, I'd like you to join me on this journey so we can build our community, develop our individual competitive advantages, and advocate for our interests.

To kick our relationship off, I would like to start with a very special offer:

I want to give you a FREE copy of our CotranslatorAI Starter software, some FREE training (mostly documentation and tutorials), and FREE membership in AI4LanguageProfessionals.

By joining today, you will get all of these things, and you'll be within a community of like-minded sojourners as we explore the possibilities in the present and navigate our way into the future.

Are you ready to get started?

I hope to see you on the other side!


Steven

​PS. No AI was used in the writing of this message; I had too much soul to bare to rely on a machine!