Human-centeredness in translation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly reshaping society and the daily lives of billions.New AI-driven developments have quickly gained traction, with Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT reaching 400 million users worldwide, and new systems such as DeepSeek quickly topping app store charts globally (e.g., Mehta, 2025).While unstoppable developments in AI technologies offer multiple benefits, they also raise concerns about possible risks and negative ramifications (Schmager et al., 2025), including a perceived negative impact on human agents and societies (McClain et al., 2025).These widespread concerns have led to the emergence of the multidisciplinary research domain of Human-Centered AI (HCAI), the focus of this special issue of the journal InContext.This topic was chosen given the currency of AI-related issues in Translation Studies (TS), as well as the nature of HCAI approaches as "a paradigm shift" (Schmager et al., 2023, p. 7) that could open up new and exciting research possibilities.HCAI as a field intends to move the debate on AI "beyond the prevalent technology-centered approaches" and towards "AI driven by human values" (Schmager et al., 2023, p. 7).First and foremost, this means that HCAI approaches intend to improve or augment human experiences and abilities, rather than replace them through automation (Rogers, 2022, p. 1).To achieve this, HCAI intends to align AI development with human values and ethical principles to ensure safety and trust, promoting not only the highest possible level of human control and autonomy, but also automation (Shneiderman, 2022).To achieve this goal, research on this domain should take "aspects of the human user", as well as "their values and agency into account" (Capel & Brereton, 2023, p. 2).Yet, what are these "human aspects" at the core of this area of enquiry?These issues