AI Translation: Can ChatGPT Translate Like a Human?

According to Sam Altman, the weekly audience of active ChatGPT users has reached 800 million people.  However, interestingly, over the past year, the number of people using the chatbot specifically for writing and translation has decreased — from more than one-third of all users to roughly one-quarter. Why is that happening? One possible reason is quite straightforward: AI-powered translation does not always meet user expectations.

When AI Translation Can Actually Help You

ChatGPT’s popularity is easily understandable: it is quick, comprehends simple prompts and translates most language pairs quite effectively. But the most important thing to remember is: AI translation works best for short messages. AI-powered translation of full documents can lead to outcomes that are… let’s say, a little too creative.

ChatGPT is useful when you need to translate:

• chat messages;
• announcements or short notes without complex terminology;
• customer support requests;
• short phrases’ drafts with human editing before sending.

ChatGPT is also helpful when you need to test chatbot conversations. It’s great for checking the tone or clarity of short replies and getting results instantly. However, if you care about your reputation, you should create official templates in advance and have them reviewed by an in-house translator or LSP. Then, you won’t have to worry about quality.

When AI Text Translation Causes More Harm Than Good

Are you thinking about using AI-powered translation for a long, complex text? Be prepared for hallucinations. Technical, financial, and legal documents, as well as marketing copy and websites, all depend heavily on context. Even well-trained systems like ChatGPT can mistranslate it.

Typical issues with AI translation include:

• overly literal translations;
• broken logic or missing connections between ideas;
• invented terms and unnatural phrasing;
• strange formatting that wasn’t in the source.

AI models only operate within the task you give them. According to marketing expert Taras Hordiienko, even after uploading a brand’s complete tone-of-voice description, ChatGPT was unable to produce marketing messages in the correct style. AI can generate options and drafts, but tone and reasoning still need human refinement.

How to Spot an AI-Powered Translation

No, it’s not just about using too many em dashes. ChatGPT loves them and often uses them where other punctuation should be. The real issue is that English uses dashes to emphasize and indicate pauses. Because ChatGPT is mostly trained on English data, it carries these habits over into other languages.

ChatGPT’s translations also tend to sound flat and generic. Here’s what this looks like in practice:

The translation is technically accurate, but something about it feels “off.”

The hallmarks of an AI-translated text include:

• repeated words and phrases;
• “sterile” tone with no authorial style;
• grammar structures are copied from the source language. They are not adapted.
• There are issues with the agreement, fluency, and natural rhythm.

Feel free to try out AI translation for short, low-risk content. It’s ideal for quick messages. Remember the golden rule of any AI system: “A human must stay in the loop.” Post-editing is key to reducing the likelihood of errors in text that has been translated by AI. And for important or official documents, always rely on experienced LSP translators, not AI tools.