Artificial intelligence is one of the world’s most prevalent economic growth sectors. It’s a technology that can be applied to many different industries – from education and investing to self-driving cars and medicine.

Some companies, like Meta, are also beginning to use AI to create more powerful translation bots. There’s even some talk that these bots will be good enough to replace translation firms in the future. But is that actually true? If so, when might it happen?

We put together this article to answer those questions. Keep reading to learn more.

Can an AI language bot replace a translation company today?

It’s impossible to discredit the advances that have taken place in AI-powered translation technology over the past decade. Breakthroughs have led to significant progress in the overall quality of translations from major language bots.

But despite these advancements, AI is not a full-scale replacement for a translation company today. The reason for this is that modern AI-powered language networks are still incapable of grasping much of that subtlety in human speech patterns.

Being able to exercise this kind of precise judgment with word choices is difficult for even humans to do. It’s led to a few humorous marketing situations, like KFC’s famous slogan “Finger-Lickin’ Good” being translated to the equivalent of “Eat Your Fingers Off” in Chinese.

That being said, there are some situations in which AI-powered language bots are already very useful. For example, you can use them when you just need to translate a single word or phrase. They’re also really useful in casual conversations that don’t need to be 100% accurate.

Will AI ever dethrone translation firms?

If AI isn’t a replacement for translation companies just yet, you’re probably wondering if it could be in the future. The answer would depend on what the development of artificial intelligence technology looks like over time.

For example, AI needs to be able to grasp the subtleties of human language more effectively than it currently does. But we don’t know when or if that will happen.

There’s also the problem of the original content. What if it’s written poorly? If you try to translate English language content with poor word selection, those issues could be exacerbated when you send the material through a translation bot.

The reality is that a human will likely always need to be involved in the translation process in one way or another. Even if AI becomes powerful enough to replicate the performance of a translation company, most businesses are still going to want a human to look over the translation to ensure it’s accurate.

Experience The Translation Company Difference

If you’re trying to decide between using an AI tool or hiring a professional firm, let us show you the difference that we offer at The Translation Company.

Our team of experts can translate all of your documents into more than 200 languages. So no matter what type of content you want to translate, we can get the job done for you accurately and at a price point that you can afford.