Timothy McKeon, a rare Irish language translator, once had a steady stream of work from European Union institutions, a career sustained for many years. However, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence tools, now capable of near-instantaneous text and increasingly, speech translation, has dramatically altered his livelihood and that of countless others in his field.
McKeon reports a significant decline in his income, experiencing a roughly 70% reduction as translation assignments for the EU dwindled. The available work now primarily involves refining machine-generated translations, a task he firmly declines “on principle.”
He argues that engaging in such work inadvertently helps train the very software that is displacing human translators. When edited text is fed back into the translation software, it “learns from your work,” making human expertise progressively obsolete.
AI’s swift transformation of the translation industry
The question of how AI will impact global livelihoods, a central topic at gatherings like the World Economic Forum, is no longer speculative for the translation sector. The industry is already facing profound changes as technological capabilities evolve.
Applications such as Google Translate previously reduced the demand for human linguists. The widespread adoption of generative AI has only accelerated this trend, pushing the industry into a new phase of automation and re-evaluation.
Declining income and job displacement challenges
A 2024 survey conducted by the UK’s Society of Authors revealed that over one-third of translators have lost work due to generative AI, which can create sophisticated text, images, and audio from user prompts. This technological shift directly impacts the financial stability of language professionals.
Furthermore, 43% of the surveyed translators reported a notable decrease in their overall income attributable to the encroaching technology. In the United States, data from 2010 to 2023, analyzed by Carl Frey and Pedro Llanos-Paredes of Oxford University, indicated that regions with higher Google Translate usage experienced slower job growth for human translators.
A growing global concern for language professionals
Initially relying on statistical translation, Google Translate transitioned to a neural translation technique in 2016, leading to more natural-sounding outputs that closely resemble current AI tools. This shift marked a significant turning point for the industry.
Carl Frey estimated that approximately 28,000 additional translator jobs would have been created had machine translation not emerged. While he notes it’s “not a story of mass displacement yet,” he believes this scenario is “very likely to happen” in the near future, impacting career prospects into 2025 and beyond.
The situation mirrors global trends, according to McKeon, who is part of the Guerrilla Media Collective, an international group of translators and communication professionals. He states that all members now supplement their income with other jobs due to AI’s pervasive impact on their primary profession.
Legal battles and corporate shifts reshape interpretation roles
Christina Green, president of Green Linguistics and a court interpreter in Wisconsin, fears her judicial role could soon vanish. A proposed bill in Wisconsin aims to permit the use of AI or other forms of machine translation in civil, criminal, and other specific court cases, setting a potential precedent for 2025.
Green and other professionals have actively campaigned against this proposal since its introduction. She highlighted that “all of the United States is watching Wisconsin” for the outcome, as opponents have successfully stalled its progress thus far, underscoring the legal battle ahead. While Green has maintained her court work, her company recently lost a significant Fortune 10 corporate client, which opted for an AI-powered translation service. This substantial loss forced her to implement layoffs, reflecting the broader corporate shift towards cost-saving AI solutions. “People and companies think they are saving money with AI, but they have no idea what it is, how privacy is affected, and what the ramifications are,” Green stated, emphasizing the hidden costs and risks.
Calls for government action amid industry transitions
Fardous Bahbouh, a London-based Arabic translator and interpreter for international media, has observed a substantial reduction in written translation work over recent years. She attributes this decline to both technological advancements and the financial pressures increasingly faced by media organizations.
Bahbouh, who is also pursuing a doctorate focusing on the translation industry, confirmed that her research demonstrates technology, particularly AI, is having an “enormous impact” on translators and interpreters. She voiced serious concerns that governments are “not doing enough to help them transition to other jobs,” a situation that could exacerbate inequality and poverty among workers and children into 2025. Many translators are, in fact, actively pursuing reskilling opportunities because translation is “not generating the income it previously did,” noted Ian Giles, a translator and chair of the Translators Association for the UK’s Society of Authors, with similar trends reported in the US. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, recently stated in Davos that the number of translators and interpreters at the fund dropped from 200 to 50 due to increased technology adoption, illustrating the scale of institutional shifts. Bahbouh argues that governments must also strengthen labor protections for those who remain in the translation industry to safeguard their professional standing.
The irreplaceable human element in high-stakes communication
Despite the significant progress in machine translation and interpretation, technology currently cannot fully replace human language professionals. While using AI for everyday low-risk tasks like finding directions is common, human translators are expected to remain essential in high-stakes environments.
Andy Benzo, president of the American Translators Association, emphasized that human expertise is still critically needed in diplomatic, legal, financial, and medical contexts, where the risks associated with errors are “enormous.” She stated, “I am a translator and a lawyer, and in both professions the meaning of every word is very specific and the language models that power AI tools are still far from reaching that level,” highlighting the nuances that only human professionals can master.
Beyond algorithms: Literary translation and human connection endure
Another specific area that remains relatively untouched by automated translation tools is literary translation. Ian Giles, who translates commercial fiction from Scandinavian languages into English, previously supplemented his literary work with corporate translation jobs, but these assignments have now largely disappeared.
Conversely, literary commissions continue to arrive, demonstrating a resilient demand for human creativity and nuanced cultural understanding. Beyond the professional realm, Carl Frey of Oxford University pointed out a fundamental aspect of communication that AI cannot replicate: genuine human connection. He asserted, “The fact that machine translation is ubiquitous doesn’t mean you can build a relationship with someone in France without speaking a word of French,” underscoring the enduring value of direct linguistic and cultural engagement.