Science & technology | The Babel wishMachine translation is almost a solved problemBut interpreting meanings, rather than just words and sentences, will be a daunting taskIllustration: Mark Pernice Dec 11th 2024|LisbonVasco Pedro had always believed that, despite the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), getting machines to translate languages as well as professional translators do would always need a human in the loop. Then he saw the results of a competition run by his Lisbon-based startup, Unbabel, pitting its latest AI model against the companys human translators. I was likeno, were done, he says. Humans are done in translation. Mr Pedro estimates that human labour currently accounts for around 95% of the global translation industry. In the next three years, he reckons, human involvement will drop to near zero.Explore moreArtificial intelligenceThis article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline The Babel wishFrom the December 14th 2024 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content