Quotidian Dread and AI

It is the kind of dread that seeps. It’s not apocalyptic. Just the sort of thing that can eat up your livelihood. An example. I am aware that my own work, both translations and non-translated writings, was used in the creation of Meta’s AI, without my permission. Like many colleagues, I searched and found the… Continue reading Quotidian Dread and AI

When Fluency Outpaces Understanding

Back from my travels, I’m inspired by Tom Gally’s newer experiments with basic humanities research using AI so have started a couple of iterative experiments of my own on translation topics. Basically, this means asking a research question, setting up some parameters, and then letting the AI work on its own, with reports sent to… Continue reading When Fluency Outpaces Understanding

Dread and Dreams

On my first research visit for The Translator After AI, I came upon two perfect bookend images and managed to get a picture of each. First, “AI Dread,” which I was able to snap even while behind the wheel because traffic was completely stopped. I assume the phone number and invitation is for counseling, and… Continue reading Dread and Dreams

Two Jokes Walk into a Bar: AI Translating Humor

Jokes are notoriously hard to translate. Often one ends up not just translating them but also explaining why they’re funny. Which of course is not very funny. I thought I’d test out Chat GPT on this score. So here are three examples of jokes I’ve used in my Russian and Soviet culture classes in the… Continue reading Two Jokes Walk into a Bar: AI Translating Humor