Lynne Bowker: Translation technologies and ethics 

This is the second lecture delivered by Lynne Bowker (Université Laval, Quebec, Canada), chair professor of the 2024 CETRA Summer School.
Translation technologies and ethics
The issue of privilege and marginalization raised in the introductory lecture paves the way for a more robust examination of ethical questions in regard to translation technologies. Translation technologies are not neutral, and current data-driven models, such as neural machine translation or Large Language Models, simultaneously help to democratize access to translation while also contributing to the digital divide. High- and low-resource situations create uneven quality with regard to machine translation output, while the computationally intensive requirements of such systems determine who can - or cannot - participate in this type of research. Questions of power dynamics and data ownership, sustainability and ecological impact are coming to the fore. The mass of contradictions posed by translation technologies raise questions about what areas of research should be prioritized by the next generation of translation technology scholars. In this lecture, we will not solve all the problems, but we will begin unpacking some of the issues and explore potential next steps.