Multiple perspectives on translators and translation in the age of artificial intelligence.

This essay provides a multifaceted analysis of the evolving landscape of translation and the changing role of human translators in the age of Generative AI. The first chapter introduces key issues by exploring how AI has replicated and surpassed human cognitive capabilities. The second chapter examines the rise of AI-driven automation in the context of Karl Marx’s anti-capitalist critique, highlighting its impact on the depreciation of human translation labor. The third chapter draws on Albert Camus’s existentialist view of Sisyphus to put an optimistic interpretation on the act of translation. The fourth chapter adopts a critical posthumanist framework to discuss the wider implications of the translation network increasingly dominated by AI agents (machine translators). The fifth chapter explores the potential of a “post-translation” or “post-translator” perspective, focusing on emerging phenomena such as “flattening” and “paratranslation.” The sixth chapter delves deeply into the cyborgization of human-machine translation and its ethical implications. Specifically, this chapter envisions “translation trademark symbols” (e.g., TRANSLATION™, TRANSLATION®) and discusses how Lawrence Venuti’s notion of visibility gains renewed significance in the AI era.