Raw LLM Responses

I used to work as a translation manager and translators were already using translation software 20 years ago. Either Google translate (wasn’t great but sped up the initial draft) or other professional packages that you would train on your own translations that used statistical analysis and n-grams. One or two of our freelance translators would churn out 2-3 translations in a week, but 80-90% of the translation was already done by them by using their own corpora. They were fast, but the stability of the trade was already feeling mildly perilous. I don’t work in the field anymore, but just the other day, for a different job I offered to translate a PDF and an LLM did the job in seconds. I tried to refine the wording, but there wasn’t much to improve on! Now I write software, and I’m pretty sure it can do 60% of my job. So I’m looking for ways to be more relevant. 1 year ago it was amusing, but now it’s feeling like a serious concern. The one thing I can say is that people not using AI will be at a disadvantage in any field. However it’s different to translate with AI without command of the target language, than to verify the work and improve the wording and context. Experts will still be needed, but they’ll be 10x more productive which will increase the supply of services and maybe reduce demand for translators and people in other professions.