T
he third week of November means the Nordic Translation & Interpretation Forum (NTIF). The 14th edition of NTIF was held in Malmö, Sweden, famous for also hosting the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest.
Under the threat of cold spells and blizzards, delegates from all over Europe convened to discuss how the industry can stay relevant in a world increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence (AI). In contrast to the dark and gloomy surroundings, NTIF offered a spectacular display of human warmth and colorful disco lights.
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In her keynote address, “Innovative Anchors: Holding Steady in the Winds of Change,” Sofie Lindblom offered tangible tools for staying relevant through innovation. Sofie challenged organizations to invest more in Horizon Three perspectives, meaning future products, than in the more urgent Horizon One and Two perspectives of core product and its growth. This is what she refers to as a balanced roadmap. She urged us to be mindful, though, that while AI introduces new opportunities, it needs to be kept on a tight leash. There is a risk of losing human values if we don’t control the technology, possibly through legislation such as the AI Act.
A panel of disruptors introducing AI-based services to the healthcare interpretation industry argued that the technology offers patients native language support when it counts. They explained that the industry must mature and pull together, integrating technologies and services, to offer users a full-service solution.
In total, there were three panels and three Think Tanks: unconference-style workshops that offered in-depth discussions on topics such as innovation and interpretation. Expectations were discussed on everything from the output of language service providers (LSPs) to the linguistic diversity of large language models (LLMs). Everybody agreed that a push of the button does not suffice — not yet. Alun Gryfford of Wales’ Bla Translation offered valuable insights into not only the limitations of AI in supporting minority languages, but also the importance of language in shaping the identity of minority groups.
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The closing keynote by Slator’s Florian Faes offered an updated and slightly hopeful state of the language industry. While the interest in AI translation as a search word is at an all-time high, expectations for LSPs are setting new baselines. Meanwhile, AI-generated translation features are implemented in a vastly growing number of applications, and the range of services by implementing AI applications through LLMs is a growing opportunity for LSPs.
In parallel to the conference, a song contest took place in which participants were invited to create an AI-generated, Eurovision-style tribute to the event. The winning song, “Conference Queen” — prompted by Six Continents’ Gaëtan Chrétiennot — is a tribute to Anne-Marie Colliander Lind and Cecilia Enbäck, NTIF’s professional hostesses and party queens. As the conference closed, the disco lights lingered on an innovative industry assuming its responsibility for human relevance.
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