Leila's McDonald's

By: Hilda Shymanik

While driving my grandkids to a ceramic studio to craft Father’s Day presents Leila, my 10-year-old granddaughter, sighed and told me “Grandma, McDonald’s is closed for renovations.” According to Leila, the famous fast-food chain in Harvard, Illinois, a rural community that my son calls home, was closed to bring it into the AI new era. “Can you believe it? They are replacing all employees with AI, Grandma!” She was outraged and I could see how troubled she was. It turns out she was mistaken and the McDonald’s was just being renovated.

This is an example of the panic-stricken communities that are worried about the changes and the consequences of AI upgrades and the natural human overreaction to any threat.

A little while ago I went to an arbitration at a local courthouse in the midwest, and while attorneys negotiated certain monetary issues before we began, including who would pay for the interpreter’s services, the plaintiff's attorney stated that they did not want to pay for my invoice because they didn’t need the interpreter. They were using a reliable app. When I heard that, I was immediately taken aback, concerned, and worried about our profession. I need not have been. Not yet anyway.

Whether the app was good or not was never clear, as we were in a basement where arbitrations were done and did not have the internet. They ended up needing the interpreter, and the plaintiff agreed to pay 50% of my invoice without further comment. That gave me a great sense of relief, because for AI to not be functional, at least for now, all you need is a lack of internet access, Starlink, electricity, etc. Interpreters can work without electricity for the most part. All they need is a notebook and a pen, and only if necessary (e.g., for consecutive interpretation).

I am tired of being worried about all the ways in which our profession is threatened, whether by lowering standards to allow individuals without the necessary skills to do our job in order to cheapen our services, the use of AI, or the use of bilingual police officers or other bilingual court or medical personnel.

Focusing on the needs of LEPs, not technology

To be honest I care more about the services rendered to the LEP. Currently, there is no question that interpreters are the best option. In person, preferably. The efforts of many courts to do away with in-person services is already a shame, in my professional opinion. The idea of AI as it is today replacing us is ludicrous. All we have to do is watch some of the tremendous tests that our colleagues have undertaken to see the flaws that still exist in the Artificial Intelligence realm. See below a Mock witness examination conducted by Ernest Niño-Murcia and Katty Kauffman:

But it is possible that AI could surpass human interpreting skills. We are sentient beings with accumulated knowledge that adds to our personal, academic, and cultural backgrounds who can transfer meaning from one language to another. That is something that can be learned. Yes, many of us might have an innate ability to do what we do, however, these are skills that, if you have them in the first place, can be improved and perfected to a certain degree. 

Sentient usually means having subjective experiences, being conscious, feeling sensations, and having an inner awareness of what it is like to exist. There is currently no evidence that AI systems have these qualities. But could that change? Perhaps. Generative AI has expanded AI's capabilities in remarkable ways, and many believe its future potential is still unfolding. Whether it will ever rival human understanding remains an open question.

Would you be averse to LEPs getting the best services available? Or are you concerned more about your ability to work in this wonderful profession that we have built together for ourselves and for the benefit of our clients?

For me, in this case, the end justifies the means. This is about the LEP, not about me. So I will continue trying to stay ahead of AI and being the best interpreter I can be. But panic about competing with AI? Not for me. I can always go back to accounting, learn different skills, or enter another profession altogether. 

If I am mistaken and AI can never overcome our skills, then that's better for us. And that would certainly make me happy. I want the best services for LEP individuals, and that right now is us. Our dedicated community of people, not non sentient machines.



How do you feel about this subject? Are our individual professional needs more important than providing the best available services for LEPs?

Keep the Conversation Going

If this topic resonated with you, be sure to check out our previous blog posts for more insights on the realities of our profession, and the evolving world of judiciary translation and interpreting:

The Conference Between the Sessions — What happens when more than 350 language access professionals come together to learn, connect, and build community?

Language is Evocative  — How do you balance literal accuracy with conveying the intended meaning when interpreting or translating?

Go Team! —  What makes team interpreting the professional standard?

You can find these and more in our blog archives!

Interested in sharing your insights with our community? Check out Writing for The NAJIT Observer to learn how you can contribute.

The images used in this post are sourced from Unsplash, Pixabay, AI generated, and/or credited to their rightful owner. They are used for illustrative purposes only.

The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position, policies, or views of the NAJIT Board of Directors or the organization as a whole. Content published in The NAJIT Observer is intended to encourage professional dialogue, reflection, and community engagement. Reader discretion is advised where topics may involve complex ethical, professional, or emotionally sensitive subject matter.