KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Translation tools such as CAT, NMT, and, more recently, generative AI, have revolutionised the field of medical translation, increasing efficiency and aiding consistency.
• While the widespread use of these translation tools appears to now be inevitable, it is essential to fully understand their limitations and the continued, critical role of the human translator.

Artificial intelligence (AI) looks set to transform the fields of medical research, publications, and translation, sparking considerable discussion to date around potential opportunities and pitfalls. Medical translation in particular has already undergone significant changes, with the introduction of digital tools such as computer assisted translation (CAT) and neural machine translation (NMT).

In a recent article published by the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA), medical translator Ann Marie Boulanger reviews available technologies and outlines the benefits and limitations of NMT and generative AI tools in medical translation.

Pros of generative AI and machine translation

• Increased efficiency: NMT translation tools can improve productivity by around 20%.
• Standardisation: Consistency is key when it comes to medical terminology. Translation tools have been invaluable for ensuring terms are standardised and up to date.
• Multilingual support: NMT/generative AI tools have been useful for rapidly processing and translating large amounts of information, increasing the speed at which it can be disseminated to scientists, doctors, and patients.

Limitations remain

• Overconfidence: While machine/AI translations appear increasingly sophisticated, it would be dangerous to assume that this makes them accurate.
• Limited contextual understanding: Medicine is a complex field, filled with rapidly changing terminology, acronyms, and confusing shorthand notation. These factors render it challenging for machine translation to reliably translate texts.
• Confidentiality concerns: Free tools are often not secure, posing confidentiality concerns.
• The human impact: NMT/generative AI tools work best in the hand of experienced translators, which presents a quandary for the industry. A shift to using machine translation with human postediting, often by less experienced translators and for poorer pay, has caused compensation for medical translation to plummet despite the high level of expertise required.

The essential role of the human translator

While the use of NMT/AI tools may have become inevitable, Boulanger  argues that medical translators must “view machine translation and AI as nothing more than aids, tools in a toolbox, as opposed to solutions designed to do the work for them”.

Medical translators must “view machine translation and AI as nothing more than aids, tools in a toolbox, as opposed to solutions designed to do the work for them”.

To this end, Boulanger urges the industry to remember that human translators will always be needed, at the very least for final validation, especially in a field as complex and critical as medical translation.

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