Pro Interpreters vs. AI Challenge: Who Translates Faster and Better? | WIRED

AI has been threatening everyone's jobs, and that includes translation. Professional interpreters Barry Slaughter Olsen and Walter Krochma take on an AI speech translator named Kudo to see how its translation compares to that of a human. Barry and Walter test the AI on its ability to translate not only the words being said, but the emotions.



Director: Katherine Wzorek
Director of Photography: Francis Bernal
Editor: Louville Moore
Expert: Barry Slaughter Olsen; Walter Krochma
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White; Kameryn Hamilton
Production Manager: Eric Martinez
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Camera Operator: Jack Belisle
Gaffer: Alfonso
Audio: Brett Van Deusen
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Assistant Editor: Courtney Karwal


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[juliegolick]

I think, like the two interpreters were saying at the end, that the real boon is going to come for small businesses and social situations where you wouldn't otherwise have an interpreter at all. (Or perhaps just "Sally the bookkeeper who took a few years of high school French, but is the only one in the office who knows any French at all.") For high-level diplomatic stuff or high-stakes interactions, then I think professional human interpreters are still the way to go. But if you're on vacation and want to figure out how to get back to your hotel, this might be a good substitute.

[sefaemreilikli]

The issue with AI translating (not interpreting) well-written speeches is that it's just translating a perfect text that is recorded clearly and reading it out. As a conference interpreter, I encountered people who read their speeches out and the majority don't even listen because it's robotic and fast and too dense for the average listener to take in. It's not verbal communication. It's something for the press to analyze later usually. However, there are a lot of cases where people just speak normally and communicate their thoughts. Sentences break or things get repeated, there are idioms, jokes, moments where they can't be heard clearly because they don't speak to the microphone. This is where AI cannot function properly (at the moment), because a human is needed to understand what a human wants to convey. A human's life experience is needed to figure out what the problems or mistakes or jokes are. And interpret not just what is being said, but also how. Is the speaker cheerful? Where is the emphasis? Are they using silences in a certain way? What is their body language/facial expression saying? What is the context, what is happening in the world at that moment? What is the gravity of the situation? So AI may be able to _translate_ well, but interpreting is much more than just translating words.

[blendedchaitea]

I would love to see this with Japanese. Subjects get left out all the time, euphemism is everywhere, and social context is king. How would a computer do with that?

[mx.menacing]

I will always agree with the sentiment that AI is a tool and not a replacement.

[TheOneCleanHippy]

I'm an American living in China. AI-powered translation apps have made my life significantly easier. That being said, there is a reason why they did this with English/Spanish. When you start doing harder or more significantly different languages like Chinese to English or lesser known languages like Estonian to Navajo, the quality of the translation takes a nosedive. It will continue to get better and better very quickly but it isn't quite there yet, especially when you get into metaphorical language or idioms.

[kgiggles]

This was just Spanish to English, which given Kudo's location (NYC), makes sense. I'd be curious how it would do with Nepali to French, or really any two languages that are not super common to the country where Kudo was created.

[NinjaElephant]

I‘m a pediatric neurosurgeon in Austria where we treat a lot of Ukrainian refugees for a year now and google translate completely changed the interaction. If somebody brings a medical report I can just take a picture and instantly read the complete page, I don’t need emotions or the correct word choosing for that and it is way faster than interpreters. On the other hand, when talking with patients about surgery and prognosis I really like interpreters since patients tend to ask more questions than with a program. Tablet video interpreters are a blessing where before we had to make an appointment. But to be honest most interpreters are not as world class as these two.

[.]

The risk is too high in diplomatic negotiations, and a human needs to make sure it is correct.

[BusketPosket]

This was an amazing video! I hope you show the strengths/weaknesses with translating lesser-spoken or grammatically complex languages, or even explore whether AI is to the point where signed languages can have the same level of interpretation (or, if not, why the heck not?)

As a linguist, I worry about tech bros and popsci blogs running with this notion that language is a static and fully observable thing that you can pop out of one mouth, run through an algorithm, then pop it whole-cloth into someone else’s eyes or ears. So much of communication is metalinguistic, and we barely understand the mechanisms ourselves. It’s a black-box programming a black-box.

[nigeh]

I’m English and speak a little French.
I find the ability to speak and think in multiple languages fluently amazing.
At university in the nineties I had a Portuguese friend called Cristina who obviously spoke Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, German and Italian fluently. She also decided to learn Croatian for fun in her spare time as well as gaining a first in Politics.
Some people are so naturally gifted I envy them.

[gentleken]

As a speaker of Korean, I can tell you that AI and online translators will never be as good as people for translating Korean into English perfectly. As a teacher here, I can tell when a student has used Papago (the most popular translation app/website). It has terrible trouble with subject pronouns because they are not always written in Korean so it guesses what the subject may be and mixes them up in sentences. Also given that, like other languages, there may not be a direct translation between phrases and words, meaning it can make a mistake with them too. At the moment, it's about 70% effective, but that 30% means that it's very obvious when someone has used a translator.

[polyglotava]

I believe the true potential will be realized when we, as interpreters, can leverage AI to enhance our interpretation. If the AI can precisely identify all complex terminology for me, it would free up cognitive resources, allowing me to make on-the-spot decisions to either trust the AI or opt for a more suitable phrasing during human interpretation.

[rebekah]

1:40 he seemed to gloss over the fact that the screen shows that 1020 as the year it picked out of the speech.

[InsideInterpreting]

A great and well-informed video (although professional conference interpreting started in 1919, not Nuremberg). The final analysis is spot on. AI interpreting is going to widen access to interpreting and might help professionals but it is not even nearly a replacement and, based on current algorithms, cannot be one.

[irinagolovina]

Great overview! Would've loved to hear the full records of original speech, interpreters' and AI's interpretation to get a better idea though. Do you plan to publish it at some point?

[noemita]

What's up with so many comments being jolly about the idea of interpreters being replaced by computers?

[isakusann]

Interpreters will survive since someone will have to bear the responsibility when something goes wrong, and that's also probably the promoting mechanism that lies in the interprting circle.

[glossaria]

I'd love to see how Barry would do on the speed test speech if he had Kudo's running translation in front of him *while* he did his translation. I'd be curious to see if it would help, or simply be a distraction.

[susanamurcia]

Human tone and Psycho would never be replaced by IA.

[ShieldYoung]

Interpretation is translation of emotions rather than words