Add to your calendar! The upcoming CODA event on Digital Humanities will also be streamed via zoom.
Félix do Carmo, University of Surrey
How AI extracts and exploits value from knowledge created by humans: the case of machine translation
11 april | 17:00-18:30 - UTC +1 | sala reuniões 2 - FLUP
Zoom: https://lnkd.in/djeBwsJn
Abstract:
Value is not in the eye of the beholder, it is in people’s pockets. The discussion about generation of economic value has gained a renewed interest with the increasing influence of "technology-led" business models. A look into the relationship between technology and value since the Industrial Revolution shows how technology is often used as an instrument to extract and exploit, and even destroy, the value created by human labour. This is especially true when AI is described as capable of autonomously producing value, and when work is heteromated and moving to online platforms (Mazzucato, 2018; Ekbia & Nardi, 2017; Rushkoff, 2017).
Machine translation (MT) is often hailed as one of the most successful applications of AI (Yang, 2022). Like other forms of AI, MT is just a simulation of human products by artificial means (do Carmo, 2022). As a simulation, it does not replicate the process of creation, when we know that what determines the value of knowledge products, like translation, are components of processes, like authorship, purpose, agency, creativity, and others (do Carmo, 2021). Current narratives of business models in the translation industry may result in total destruction or radical heteromation of the value of translators’ work (do Carmo, 2020). In this talk, supported by previous work by many researchers, I will challenge these narratives, proposing that translation and MT are fundamental objects of study, they are factors that tap into not just language work, but our understanding of intelligence and of the fundamental current transformations of our society.
Moderator:
Luís Trigo, CODA, CLUP | FLUP.
Organization:
CODA - Centre for Digital Culture and Innovation, with the support of CLUP, CETAPS, ISUP, FLUP and FCT.
