CB Multilingual: Speaker at the 2023 ASTTI annual conference in Bern

How do court interpreters see the development of their profession in the light of AI?

In her presentation in French (“Enquête auprès des interprètes judiciaires en exercice accrédité-e-s en Suisse – résumé des aspects relatifs à la confidentialitéBild hinzufügen et à la protection des données”), our Managing Director, Silvia Cerrella Bauer, summarised the most important aspects of confidentiality and data protection from the survey she conducted among accredited court interpreters working in Switzerland.

“The law stipulates that court interpreters must translate reliably and truthfully in order to guarantee data protection, among other things. No artificial intelligence can do that (yet)”.

In our country, the quality of interpreting is crucial for the authorities who use interpreters in negotiations. She emphasised the importance of careful selection and training of human interpreters and made it clear that the introduction of AI solutions in this area is on the radar, but requires careful consideration and adaptation to meet the high quality requirements of judicial authorities.

Integration of AI solutions in legal interpreting

This opened the debate on the integration of AI in legal interpreting and highlighted the need to think carefully about the right use of technology so as not to compromise on quality of service and data security. It became clear that while the use of AI solutions for legal translation and interpreting is possible in the medium term, they cannot directly replace human interpreters: They are unable to grasp the subtle contexts and emotions that are crucial for proper communication in court.

We are at the beginning of a groundbreaking era in the popularisation and acceleration of the use of AI. Some key thoughts and insights from the event can be summarised in the following statements:

• AI does not have consciousness or cognitive abilities. The interpretation of meaning is in our hands as AI only imitates certain things.
• The use of AI improves over time: the more we use it, the more powerful it becomes.
• AI makes it possible to assume different identities and create virtual models, which opens up new possibilities for inclusion, but also raises ethical questions..

One important aspect is the loss of income in certain professions, such as translation, as AI capabilities reduce the need for human labour. However, technological development is not linear and requires adaptation and caution in terms of data protection. The establishment of an AI observatory and the development of monitoring and risk assessment tools are important steps to facilitate and regulate the use of AI. The introduction of AI regulations is currently being discussed in various countries in order to control the use and development of this technology.

Would you like to find out more about the exciting profession of court interpreting or do you need professional court interpreters in our national languages or in migrant or rare languages?

Then please contact us. We will be happy to put you in touch with a suitable specialist.