8 The Linguist Vol/63 No/3
thelinguist.uberflip.com
FEATURES
As AI innovation snowballs, some developers are calling for
a moratorium on new services. We asked stakeholders if the
launch of new language-related AI should be put on hold
John Worne, CIOL CEO
As language
professionals, we find
ourselves at what feels
like a crossroads,
where artificial
intelligence is rapidly
transforming our
context. The question
of whether we should
pause language-
related AI development is thought-
provoking, but a moratorium would likely be
neither practical nor achievable. Realistically,
we need to focus on how to harness AI's
potential while addressing its challenges.
Firstly, it's crucial to recognise that 'AI' is not
a monolithic entity but a diverse set of
technologies with varying applications in the
lives and work of linguists. From machine
translation to speech recognition, many of
these tools are used routinely.
As linguists, we have a unique responsibility
to shape the development of language-
related AI. Our expertise is invaluable. One
key area where we can make a significant
impact is in addressing AI bias. Large
Language Models (LLMs) can perpetuate and
amplify societal biases present in their
training data. Furthermore, the data used is
dominated by English and, as we are well
placed to know, LLMs do a much, much
poorer job in other languages. By pointing
out tangible, memorable mistakes – e.g. soy
Sauce (Sp; 'I am Sauce') for 'soy sauce' in
food ingredients – we can highlight the risks
of unsupervised use of LLMs and generative
AI while working to advocate for more
inclusive and representative language.
In the realm of interpretation and
translation, the growing sense is that AI's best
use is not in replacing human linguists but in
AI: STOP OR GO?
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