Why AI Still Needs a Human Touch:
Lessons from World Cat Day

To celebrate World Cat Day on August 8th, I asked Copilot to generate an image of cats having a party. I chose this image out of the four suggestions. The result is impressive, indeed, and I was initially absolutely enthusiastic. But if you look closely, you’ll notice that many details are wrong: the fish seems to have been caught near Fukushima, the cutlery appears melted, and the cats' eyes look a bit strange…

I often experience something similar with AI translation: at first glance, the result is impressive—grammatically perfect sentences that make sense and flow easily. But when you closely compare the source and target texts, you’ll quickly notice many errors: terminological inconsistencies, missing content, or even added content (the so-called “hallucinations”), restructured sentences that do not reflect the original meaning, even some grammar mistakes...

AI translation and modern MT are very handy tools for getting a rough understanding of a text written in a language you don’t master. They can solve certain linguistic tasks in an impressive way. Still, if you need to translate a text that is crucial for conveying your message or ensuring a solid relationship with your customer—where quality, details, and accuracy are essential—it's better to entrust your text to a professional linguist. A human translator ensures that your texts in the target language faithfully and eloquently reflect your message for your audience.

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