AI Technologies in Language Access: Attitudes Towards AI and the Human Value of Language Access Managers

TL;DR

This study explores language access managers' attitudes towards AI, highlighting their cautious optimism and emphasis on human oversight amid AI's growing role in translation and language services.

Contribution

It provides qualitative insights into how language access managers perceive AI's impact and the importance of human oversight in diverse public service contexts.

Findings

Managers are conditionally optimistic about AI adoption.

They are highly aware of risks associated with AI.

They emphasize the importance of human oversight in AI applications.

Abstract

The rapid emergence of AI technologies is reshaping translation practices and theory across the board. This paper deals with the impact of AI in language access. This area is characterized by the need to serve broad and diverse user populations, within a context where efficiency and access are shaped by legal mandates, ethical and commercial tensions, and safety concerns. This paper reports on the attitudes and perceptions of language access managers towards the AI and the human value in the AI age. Methodologically, this paper presents an analysis of a subset of a broader study on language access and technology, specifically a qualitative thematic analysis of ten semi-structured interviews with language access managers in the USA working in healthcare, court, public service and local government contexts. The results indicate that language access managers show conditional optimism towards the inevitable AI implementations, are strongly risk aware, and deeply committed to the human value and human oversight of AI implementations and output.