Fluent bullshit or Bible translation of high-quality
Bible translation is a process in which missionaries live among the language group, learn their language and culture, train local people to translate the Bible verse by verse, and together they are transformed by the Word. It still takes an average of more than 20 years to translate the New Testament and at least 30 years to translate the entire Old Testament. What would happen if AI were to be utilized in this process? The obvious answer is that it could be done "faster" and at a lower cost. Furthermore, according to experts, it could produce much more accurate and higher-quality translations.
Recently, SIL developed a Bible translation app/program called Scripture Forge using NLLB (no language left behind) technology based on Facebook's Meta AI. (Facebook is working on a project to translate 200 minority languages to solve the problem of minority language users being unable to access much useful information online due to language barriers. The feature of this is that AI can learn the language well and produce translation results even with a small amount of language data, unlike major languages in the world with many users.)
Scripture Forge, which works in conjunction with Paratext, an existing Bible translation program, can create a preliminary translation of each book of the Bible in a language for which at least one gospel has been translated, using it as data. However, SF was developed to assist in the translation-checking process. It is said to be much better than humans at checking translations within a team, checking with the community, and maintaining consistency in the translation, even back-translating from the target language to the common language for checking by Bible translation consultants.
That said, AI still makes a lot of errors that need to be caught and corrected by humans. In one video I watched, the AI would say something that sounded plausible or have a conversation but then say or answer something completely wrong, which the presenter amusingly referred to as "fluent bullshit." These errors are more prevalent when the AI communicates in languages with more data sources. In contrast, when there is relatively little data, local workers can train the AI well and get more accurate answers.
On the other hand, there are concerns about this process. The incarnational identification and partnership of learning the language and culture of the target people and sharing life with them is weakened, and the realizations, professions of faith, and life changes/transformations that occur as locals wrestle with the Word verse by verse can be weakened or bypassed. Granted, the role of the local translator will be more focused on checking rather than initial translation, but the process of wrestling with the Word is still there, and the time saved on initial translation can be better spent on learning, mastering, and applying the Bible correctly.
But as with any new technology, there will always be unexpected side effects, so we must continue our walk of obedience, praying that we can use the opportunities and tools God has given us for good while minimizing the negative consequences.
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