At a Glance

  • Date: 15 February 2025
  • Location: Prince Sultan Cultural Center, Jazan
  • Event: Jazan Book Fair 2025

As part of the "Jazan Book Fair 2025" programme, organized by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, a panel discussion titled "Translation and Artificial Intelligence" was held on Friday evening, moderated by media personality Mawadah Al-Bariqi and hosting literary translator Dalal Nasrallah, who shed light on the impact of modern technology and artificial intelligence on the future of translation and its continuous development.

How Has AI Changed the World of Translation?

The session addressed AI's impact on improving translation through deep learning techniques and natural language processing, with the speaker affirming that modern tools have become far more capable of understanding context and analyzing texts compared with traditional translation. She noted these technologies provide faster, more accurate translations, contributing to cost reduction and productivity gains, in addition to facilitating instant translation between languages and cultures.

Challenges and the Future of the Human Translator

Despite great advances, Nasrallah explained that challenges remain, especially in literary and poetic translation, which requires a deep understanding of cultural symbols and figurative expressions, where machine translation still struggles to grasp complex contexts. The human translator, she said, therefore remains an essential element in ensuring accuracy, quality and deep interpretation of texts.

A Forward Look at Smart Translation

The session concluded with an open discussion on the future of translation amid AI's development, with expectations that smart technologies will continue to evolve, focusing on adaptive translation that accounts for cultural and linguistic differences, boosting the integration between humans and machines in translation.

Jazan Book Fair 2025 opens daily from 11am to midnight, except on Fridays, when it opens from 2pm to midnight, offering visitors a wide range of cultural events that boost innovation in literature, translation and technology.