Ask ChatGPT – July 31, 2023

My Conversations with ChatGPT
Machine Translation (MT) and translations generated by AI have brought about a paradigm shift in the translation industry. The output of MT will continue to improve, especially when associated with clients’ translation memories and human editing. Language Service Providers are adapting and are including MT in their processes, when MT is applicable. While linguists will continue to be essential in the process, their role will shift from that of translators to validators of content generated by MT. At Excel Translations, we wanted to know what AI thinks about all of this and decided to have an open conversation on the matter with ChatGPT. I will regularly publish a question and ChatGPT’s response, uncensored.

QUESTION 36:

Will medical device and pharmaceutical companies ever rely on machine translation as a primary option for their localization needs?

Chat GPT’s Response:

As an AI language model, I can’t predict the future with certainty, but I can offer some insights based on trends and possibilities as of my last update in September 2021.

Machine translation technology has made significant advancements in recent years, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and neural networks. However, when it comes to industries like medical devices and pharmaceuticals, where precision, accuracy, and compliance with regulations are of utmost importance, the adoption of machine translation as a primary option for localization needs might be challenging.

Challenges and considerations include:

1. Regulatory Requirements: Medical devices and pharmaceuticals are subject to strict regulatory requirements in different countries. Accurate translation is crucial to comply with these regulations, ensure patient safety, and meet the requirements of health authorities. Machine translation might not always guarantee the level of accuracy needed for regulatory approval.
2. Complex Terminology: Medical and pharmaceutical content often contains specialized and complex terminology. Machine translation systems may not fully understand and correctly translate such specialized language without extensive training and domain-specific data.
3. Liability and Risk: The consequences of mistranslation in the medical and pharmaceutical field can be severe, leading to potential liability issues and risks to patient safety. Companies may be hesitant to rely solely on machine translation due to concerns about potential errors and their impact on patients.
4. Confidentiality and Data Security: Medical and pharmaceutical companies deal with sensitive and confidential information. Relying on machine translation services might raise concerns about data security and privacy, as some machine translation systems might operate on cloud-based platforms.
5. Human Expertise: Human translators and localization experts have a deep understanding of the industry, culture, and context. Their expertise is valuable in ensuring accurate and culturally appropriate translations, which may be difficult to achieve consistently with machine translation alone.

While machine translation can be a valuable tool for assisting human translators and speeding up the translation process, it is less likely to completely replace human translation in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries anytime soon. Instead, the most plausible scenario is a continued integration of machine translation technologies alongside human expertise to achieve the best possible results, ensuring both efficiency and accuracy in the localization process.