One advantage humans still have over AI

[John Stroman]

Fellow 'Yakkers,

Yesterday I encountered this article. I cannot guarantee the reliability of the scientific study, but the reporting source is usually reliable. These findings might bode well for veteran translators who can establish an appropriate set of customers.

Our Brains Still Beat AI With One Clever Trick, Study Finds

Even as artificial intelligence continues to advance at remarkable speed, a recent study has highlighted one area where the human brain still holds a clear advantage: adaptability across tasks.

https://indiandefencereview.com/our-brains-still-beat-ai-one-clever-trick/

John Stroman

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[Bill Lise]

>>>These findings might bode well for veteran translators who can establish an appropriate set of customers.<<<

I think that is spot on, but the true significance for freelance translators is that, for all but a tiny portion of the current freelancer population, acquiring “appropriate customers“ is pretty much impossible, since most translators work for agencies, and agencies have basically switched over to not ordering translations from human professionals. Yes, providing something but AI cannot provide is a valuable asset. But it is not sufficient to survive, because you also need to be able to acquire clients, and that means doing things that most freelance translators particularly enjoy freelancing for because it obviates those selling activities.

And I also don’t think that it’s advice that is limited to veteran translators. If you can acquire those clients that are not using AI to replace you—very difficult to acquire—you don’t need to be a veteran translator.

It’s a lack of clients and the movement of freelancer clients away from human translators that is causing the demise of freelance translation as meaningful way to make a living. 

For people looking for a shadenfreude dopamine hit, this is also going to happen to translation sellers that deal with translation consumers, because those translation consumers are certainly going to start (and already have started) using AI to obviate ordering translation from agencies. I have seen that with one of my occasional manufacturer clients. It’ll happen somewhat later in Japan, but it will happen.

Bill @sorry for no good news to bring.

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リゼ　ウィリアム

Bill Lise

wlise...@gmail.com

https://kirameki-translation.co.jp/

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