Artificial Intelligence and Editing

What is the role of editors?

Editors are the friends of translators and writers. They are the ones who enhance the translated or written texts and thus help to save the reputation of the translator or writer by making sure to convey his intended meaning fully and correctly.

Can artificial intelligence ever replace human editors?

Many apps and tools use artificial intelligence today and are developing recently, which makes writing content and editing translated texts before publishing them much easier. ChatGPT is considered one of the most famous tools and was launched in 2022. Although those tools have been successful, I do not think they can replace human editors entirely. This is because humans are the only ones who can make any product special. A human editor can enhance the translated text, unlike artificial intelligence tools. He can also make it more powerful and engaging for the audience by utilizing his linguistic competence. Editing also requires some creativity, adapting different styles, and understanding subtle nuances, which depend on the context. Language is a complex thing. Therefore, artificial intelligence remains imperfect and has many biases and limitations that prevent it from producing a text that surpasses or even equals human-generated text, at least for now. For example, if you have ever used Grammarly to edit your texts, you will notice that it sometimes does not recognize some proper nouns, jargon, and slang. This is especially true when those nouns or terms have not been added to the dictionary Grammarly refers to.

Nevertheless, using artificial intelligence tools can make the editing process easier and faster when the editor uses tools like Grammarly or QuillBot to edit a text in the initial stages. Then, he can start the human editing process, which requires more than just a mere edit of grammar or spelling. Editing, as I mentioned earlier, requires enhancing the written or translated text, and this is the main reason behind my belief that artificial intelligence will not replace human editors any time soon. What about you? Do you think artificial intelligence apps and websites can replace human editors soon, or will they continue to work together?

Written By: Fahdah Alshammari

Edited by: Noura Alshobaily

References

Groff, F. (2023, June 27). Are Editors and Proofreaders the Jobs of the Future for Content Creation?https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/editors-proofreaders-jobs-future-content-creation-f%C3%A1bio-groff/

Lutz, Z. (2023, May 10). The Potential Impact of AI on Editing and Proofreading – New York Book Forum. New York Book Forum. https://newyorkbookforum.org/blog/the-potential-impact-of-ai-on-editing-and-proofreading/

Image citation

سوريا. (2024, February 6). الذكاء الصناعي يدخل عالم الصحافة.. مايكروسوفت تنشئ غرف أخبار ذكية | تلفزيون سوريا. تلفزيون سوريا. https://www.syria.tv/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%AE%D9%84-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%8A%D9%83%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%88%D9%81%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A6-%D8%BA%D8%B1%D9%81-%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B0%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A9