There has been nothing but ChatGPT since the end of 2022. The ChatGPT boom has gone everyone crazy. But what do we know exactly about it?

ChatGPT is essentially an advanced chatbot, created by OpenAI company, which uses the latest AI technology to provide detailed answers to relatively complex queries. Whether you want this chatbot to summarize your to-do list or write an essay, all you have to do is sign up in OpenAI, and it will all be at a click distance.

Can ChatGPT translate a text for you? Of course it can! You just need to upload a text, and it will return it fully translated. An advanced machine translation technique that combines the power of natural language processing with AI, ChatGPT has allowed users to communicate effectively in multiple languages.

THE PROS

If you think ChatGPT brings nothing new compared to Google Translate and are now considering leaving this article to check your email inbox, let me show you two reasons why this groundbreaking technology is so beneficial [BT1] for the translation industry:

  • Better quality in less time: With the potential to generate accurate translations on‑the‑fly, by means of advanced machine learning algorithms, ChatGPT allows translators to work more efficiently and deliver translations earlier, without renouncing quality.
  • Affordability: Since the translation is done by the ChatGPT system and not the linguist, production time is reduced and the translator’s work is focused on giving the text the human touch to have a more natural flavor.

THE CONS

However, it is not all rosy with our cost‑effective, good-quality-translation producer. So, before you decide to rely solely on this technology for your translations, there are at least two points you need to consider:

  • Reference material: Clients have their approved terminology, corpus, and style guides to follow, and ChatGPT doesn’t take them into account when translating, at least for now. This technology can make mistakes that, if overlooked, will probably make your client suspicious of your quality and eye for detail.
  • The risk of data privacy: If everything we upload to the Internet is kept in the Cloud, then any text we upload to ChatGPT will, from then on, be levitating in cyberspace. This is especially dangerous for confidential documents that need high-security standards. With ChatGPT, information can go unprotected, just like with Google Translate.

That technology is making its way into the language services sector is a fact. As regards ChatGPT, its benefits make it a good option when it comes to producing translations in a short time. However, there are still gaps that only human translators can fill. ChatGPT makes the translation process go faster, but the client’s legacy material needs to be incorporated into the process, and data privacy protection will need an enormous improvement. The key is still to combine AI with human expertise. The result? The best of both worlds. At BT we make technology work in our favor to give our clients the most faithful translation.

By: Nadia Bucca.