By Professor Mahmoud Kamel
Every few months, someone asks me the same question:
“Will artificial intelligence replace human translators?”
I usually smile before I answer.
It is not because the question is strange. It is because I have heard it many times over the past forty years. During my career as a translator and interpreter, I have seen many technological changes. Translation memories, computer-assisted translation tools, and machine translation all came with the same prediction: human translators would soon disappear. But they are still here.
Artificial intelligence is without doubt the biggest technological development our profession has ever seen. It translates thousands of words in seconds and becomes better every day. I use AI myself, and I believe it is a very useful tool. It saves time, helps with terminology, and makes many routine tasks easier. However, translation has never been only about speed. If speed were everything, dictionaries would have replaced translators many years ago.
The biggest misunderstanding is to think that translation means changing words from one language into another. In reality, translation is about transferring meaning.
Behind every sentence there is culture, history, emotion, humour, and intention. Sometimes there are ideas that are understood by native speakers without being clearly stated. A machine can recognise words and sentence patterns, but it cannot truly understand the human experience behind them. This is where the translator makes the difference.
History gives us many examples. Great civilisations learned from one another through translation. Greek philosophy reached the Arab world because translators introduced it to new readers. Arab scholars translated, explained, and developed this knowledge before it moved to Europe and contributed to the Renaissance. Translation was never a simple language exercise. It helped ideas travel across countries and generations.
This is still true today.
Think about literature or theatre. A novel is more than its vocabulary, and a play is much more than dialogue. Every character has a different personality. Every joke depends on culture and timing. Every emotional scene depends on the right choice of words. A literal translation may be grammatically correct, but it may completely lose the feeling that the writer wanted the audience to experience.
The same is true for interpreting. An interpreter does not have the chance to stop, think, or rewrite a sentence. Everything happens immediately. The interpreter listens, understands, remembers, and speaks at almost the same time. In addition to the words, the interpreter also delivers the speaker’s tone, confidence, hesitation, and emotions. This is one of the most demanding language professions, and it requires experience, concentration, and good judgment.
Does artificial intelligence help translators?
The answer is definitely yes.
Can it replace them completely?
I do not believe so.
AI is an excellent assistant. It helps translators find information more quickly, manage terminology, and improve consistency. It also reduces the time needed for repetitive work. As a result, translators can spend more time on the difficult decisions that require human thinking and cultural understanding.
For this reason, I do not see the future as a competition between humans and artificial intelligence. I see it as co-operation. Translators should learn how to use AI wisely instead of fearing it. At the same time, they should never depend on it without careful revision. Technology is powerful, but professional responsibility still belongs to the human translator.
Universities should also respond to these changes. Translation students need more than language skills. They should learn how to work with AI tools, evaluate machine translation, solve cultural problems, and think critically. Future translators will succeed not because they work faster than machines, but because they understand language more deeply.
For Egypt, translation has a special importance. It introduces Egyptian literature, culture, research, and theatre to international readers. It also allows Egyptians to benefit from new knowledge in science, medicine, economics, and many other fields. Translation is not only a profession. It is a bridge between cultures.
So, when someone asks me again whether artificial intelligence will replace translators, I will probably smile once more.
Not because I underestimate technology. On the contrary, I believe it will continue to improve and become part of our daily work.
I smile because one lesson has remained true throughout my career.
Technology can translate words.
Human translators communicate meaning.
Dr Mahmoud Kamel
Professor at the Academy of Arts
