ChatGPT is not a dedicated Translation Tool

ChatGPT is all over the media right now and some even say it can translate …But ChatGPT is not a dedicated translation solution

Let’s see how SYSTRAN and ChatGPT are different in our dossier with 4 articles and 4 themes :

ChatGPT is a ‘generative’ AI, a type of artificial intelligence that is capable of generating new content. SYSTRAN solutions transform source text, and are machine translation tools that use neural machine translation (NMT) networks to improve the quality and fluidity of language.

Open AI GPT is good on a wide variety of tasks, but in the case of translation:

It needs to be “prompted” properly, this is not a dedicated translation API
While ChatGPT is good for “classic” languages, it is not so good for rarer languages
SYSTRAN translation models, which focus on translation tasks alone, provide overall better results than general LLMs
is very expensive to operate and have low throughput. The size factor between a translation-specific and a general-purpose model is 1000. And there will be the same order of magnitude in terms of: training time/inference time/operating cost.

Based on the current state of the art, CSA Research maintains that GenAI is not yet a viable mainstream translation method, but it does offer some intriguing possibilities in other areas.

The Ethics of Generative AI, Ethical and Legal Concerns Using GenAI with Multilingual and Multijurisdictional Content
June 2023, CSA Research, Donald A.De Palma and Arle Lommel