While technological development has had a horizontal and slow-moving curve for millennia, it has begun to form a fast-growing and rising curve, especially in the last 50-60 years, and is now being felt more seriously than ever in every aspect of our lives. Artificial intelligence was first on the agenda in the mid-1960s. As the technology at the time could not fully explain what artificial intelligence was and did not have sufficient technological infrastructure, research was halted and came back on the agenda in the early 2000s. With artificial intelligence entering our lives as a new term, people are now much better equipped.
Researchers who have based their studies of the translation process exclusively on the (human) translator and thus on the sociological, political and translation studies elements that feed the translator's background knowledge have, since the early 1990s, introduced many tools/products that contribute to the translation process by adapting simple artificial intelligence technologies. However, among the high-tech artificial intelligence products, the possibility of a post-translator (i.e. a translator beyond the human) who is involved in the translation process through his/her own actions has not been mentioned in detail. The function and role of the translator are changing today. This article explores the future of translators and translation in a rapidly digitising world.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, translation studies, translation profession, computer-assisted translation program