A recent study has found that the ability to understand and communicate in a computer’s native language is a critical skill for the development of artificial intelligence, with the ability in human job to do so taking on the role of a “translator” of knowledge.
According to research conducted by the University of Toronto, human translation is an integral part of AI, as a human would need to have a deep understanding of the language and culture of the country to be able to translate what they hear in the language.
“Our research suggests that the human being’s ability to translate and understand information in a foreign language is essential for the future success of AI,” said one of the researchers, Andrew Koyanagi.
“When you look at the language landscape of AI (and AI is not confined to AI), it is clear that the languages we use are going to be the primary mediums in which AI will be implemented.”
Koyanig, who is a professor in the Faculty of Engineering, added that the work on AI has also been done by researchers in academia, but the impact of AI on the human economy has been less clear.
“I don’t think that AI is going to replace humans in jobs that are now going to require language skills, but it could be a big factor in helping people who don’t speak the language.”
Researchers at the University at Buffalo and the University College London found that, while most people have difficulty understanding the language of their own country, many people in the UK do understand it.
“In the past, we have been seeing an influx of jobs for language experts, but this research suggests language is becoming a crucial skill,” said Koyannagi.
Koyannig and his colleagues conducted an experiment in which they asked participants to translate sentences into the language they knew and asked them to identify the words.
The language of the participants’ native tongue was the same as the language used in the experiment.
After a few days, the participants were asked to return to the lab to translate the sentences back into English.
The study found that people who had mastered the language were much better at this task than people who did not.
The authors of the study, led by Koyen Apte, said the researchers found that even the best language speakers were still better at understanding the English of people they spoke to than they were when they were speaking their own native language.
