The source article is in Chinese. Click the picture to be directed.

We have summarized a very interesting article that highlights the most recent AI development as well as its future. Most of the information and comments are from this link which we translated. AI will become very powerful in every aspect, so the question for humans is how to apply it best in our world.

The next wave of AI: Studying the human brain 

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was won by Hopfield and Hinton. They used physics knowledge and tools to respectively invent the well-known artificial neural network, The Hopfield network and the Boltzmann machine, laying an important foundation for machine learning technology and promoting the development of AI.

Artificial neural networks are technologies that imitate the operation of the human brain. Hinton said that if we can understand how the brain adjusts the strength of connections between neurons, we can create amazing AI systems like GPT-4. AI will definitely be better than humans. It will be more intelligent, have a wealth of knowledge, but require far fewer neural connections than humans.

Hassabis, who jointly won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Baker and is the founder of Google DeepMind, believes that the next stage of research can use AI models to analyze the human brain to promote progress in the field of neuroscience. “I think this is a complete cycle. Neuroscience kind of inspired modern AI, and then AI will come back to help us understand what’s special about the brain.”

Can AI knowledge surpass that of humans?

When asked whether or not AI will be able to surpass the knowledge of humans, Hinton said that he believes we’ve already been surpassed. He added that though AI still has the problem of fabricating facts, also known as hallucinating, it doesn’t change the fact that it still has a greater range of knowledge than any human being.

When asked for his comment, Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine, Ruvkun, said that he believes human capabilities have been overestimated, and humans are just as liable to create false information like AI does. This is especially true with the rise of social media, which has only made the situation more serious. He concluded his thoughts by saying that it’s necessary for AI to reach the level of human beings, but it’s not a level that’s too difficult to reach.

Hassabis was also in agreement, and said that AI capabilities will advance rapidly in all aspects. Consequently, it is very important to think about how humans will design the AI systems and how they are applied in the real world.

What is a Hopfield Network?

A Hopfield network is a type of recurrent artificial neural network, often considered a “content-addressable memory,” which is designed to store patterns and can retrieve a complete pattern even when given a partial or noisy input, essentially acting like an associative memory system by minimizing an “energy function” to reach stable states; named after its inventor, John Hopfield.

Structure:

A single layer of neurons where each neuron is connected to every other neuron in the network, with symmetric connections (meaning the weight from neuron A to B is the same as the weight from B to A).

Function:

By adjusting the connection weights, the network can store patterns, and when presented with a partial or noisy version of a stored pattern, it will iteratively update its state to converge towards the closest stored pattern.

Energy Minimization:

The network operates by minimizing an “energy function,” where each state change reduces the energy, eventually leading to a stable state representing a stored pattern.

Applications:

Image restoration, pattern recognition, optimization problems, and understanding associative memory in the brain.

We hope this has been an interesting read. Now, what’s next? We look forward to seeing you in the next blog!

Our first blog of the new year includes guest writing from one of our past colleagues, who picked two of his favorite movies of 2022 to review for us. These movies are, of course, fun to watch and come to us highly recommended by our guest writer. But also, as a language services provider and a small business, we like to find bits of ourselves and our work in the things we enjoy. For example, in our first movie, we take great interest in the use of social media and videos, and in the second, we were greatly affected by how the same people can have so many different circumstances.

Scream 5

Scream 5 is not just the latest entry in the Scream series, but also a question. How loyal are fans to a franchise? Though there’s a different director at the helm, the same tone as the other entries in the franchise are present, but with a modern twist.

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and her acquaintances, are still being stalked by someone in a Ghostface outfit. This time though, social media is at the center of everything. There are online videos of people complaining about the recent Stab movies (the in-universe movies about the murders in the previous Scream movies), saying that they don’t follow the “right” path. This movie focuses on the opinionated fans who openly complain about the “wrong” directions that franchises have taken.

Overall, this is a movie that anyone who’s paid attention to social media or YouTube in the past decade will have fun watching. It’s not the best movie in the franchise, but it’s an enjoyable one!

Everything Everywhere All at Once

This is probably the most surprising movie of the year. It starts out with an ordinary situation where a family goes to social services for help with a topic. It’s as surprising for the audience as it is for the main character when everything changes in the next moment. Just like someone snapped their fingers, you’re brought through several different dimensions. The fun part? Each dimension has the same characters, but in different roles. In short, it’s a movie centering around a multiverse.

The protagonist is a Chinese-American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who experiences her life in several ways across the dimensions, all with the same people, but always different. The best part about the movie is how it managed to be original, funny, and surprising all at the same time. Your instinct might make you try to relate the movie to all the superhero movies from the past decade or two, but don’t. This is a unique movie that has no comparison, and you’re bound to love it. Also be sure to check out the movie if you’re fans of Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan (best known for his appearances in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies)!

In today’s blog, we’ll be highlighting a few tips about how to track trends by collecting/analyzing data and using it to the LSP’s advantage.

Try out surveys.

Surveys are a very easy way to get qualitative data, which can help LSPs understand the quality of the service provided. Usually, surveys are sent out to clients after they’ve received their service. Clients can rate their satisfaction with the service they received on a scale such as from 1-10 or Poor to Excellent, and can leave more detailed information about what they liked and did not like about their service.

Challenges may occur if a client forgets to fill out some of the questions, misunderstands a question, or doesn’t fill out the survey at all. This is why translating the survey and providing the client’s preferred language is very important, so they can understand everything and can answer all the questions properly!

For example, Monterey Language Services has often been requested to provide translation for surveys, whether to support research projects or international companies whose employees span all over the world. Most recently, we translated a survey into 11 languages: Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mien, Spanish, and Tagalog. We also have done survey interviews to make sure employees understand their company’s core value.

Use transactional data.

You can collect data from your own company’s transactional data to collect quantitative data, which can help LSPs identify how many times they provided service for different languages and for which clients. Transactional data refers to your sales, receipts, POs, invoices, etc. that tell you when, where, how, and for what language you’re providing services for.

By looking at your transactional data, you can identify trends. For example, if there are more requests from a nearby hospital, you can deduce if you need to hire more medical interpreters. Similarly, you can look at trends in language requests, such as if there’s a sudden surge in Korean requests; perhaps there has been an influx of people moving to the area, or there’s some sort of event going on that you should investigate.

Keep up-to-date and do research.

Other important topics to keep an eye on in the language services industry are things like technology and common issues. Technology is essential in today’s world, especially for large translation projects or simultaneous interpretation assignments.

Technology and common issues or topics of conversation constantly change and evolve. Make sure to keep up-to-date, and research through news articles and even social media such as LinkedIn to see what people are talking about. Joining professional organizations is also helpful so be on the lookout for those as well.

As a language service provider, one part of our job is to observe trends. These trends may be used to confirm jobs with specific clients or keep track of certain trends in language, and can be very important to our work. Put simply, collecting data on trends can help LSPs understand how to improve upon themselves.

In today’s blog, we’ll be highlighting a few tips about how to track trends by collecting data and use it to your LSP’s advantage.

Try out surveys.

Surveys are a very easy way to get qualitative data, which can help LSPs understand the quality of the service they provided. Usually, surveys are sent out to clients after they’ve received their service. Clients can rate their satisfaction with the service they received on a scale such as from 1-10 or Poor to Excellent, and can leave more detailed information about what they liked and did not like about their service.

Challenges may occur if a client forgets to fill out some of the questions, misunderstands a question, or doesn’t fill out the survey at all. Make sure to make the survey as clear as possible, and, whenever possible, provide the client’s preferred language.

Use transactional data.

You can collect data from your own company’s transactional data to collect quantitative data, which can help LSPs identify how many times they provided service for different languages and for which clients. Transactional data refers to your sales, receipts, POs, invoices, etc. that tell you when, where, how, and for what language you’re providing services for.

For example, a common language to interpret for in America is Spanish. By looking at your transactional data, you can identify trends. For example, if there are more requests from a nearby hospital, you can deduce if you need to hire more medical interpreters. Similarly, you can look at trends in language requests, such as if there’s a sudden surge in Korean requests; perhaps there has been an influx of people moving to the area, or there’s some sort of event going on that you should investigate.

Interviews.

When working with a contracted partner, you might want to take the opportunity to interview them and ask their opinion on your services. You can also ask if their clients mentioned anything to them about your translator or interpreter. For example, talking with a contracted health care provider can glean information from their management department as well as their patients about your interpreter’s bedside manner and professionalism.

Keep up-to-date and do research.

Other important topics to keep an eye on in the language services industry are things like technology and common issues. Technology is essential in today’s world, especially for large translation projects or simultaneous interpretation assignments.

Technology and common issues or topics of conversation constantly change and evolve. If we don’t pay attention, it can be easy to lose track of these ideas and fall behind competitors or not be able to provide the best service. Make sure to keep up-to-date, and research through news articles and even social media such as LinkedIn to see what people are talking about.

All in all, it’s good to remember that improvement is something we should always strive for. The quality of our services as LSPs is something we should make sure to provide, and collecting and analyzing data is a great step forward.

First, it’s good to have a presence on major professional websites or social media. When hiring someone, it is common for managers or recruiters to look at the potential candidate online. It’s a way to get a preliminary look at a candidate and really get to know them better before deciding on whether or not to proceed with the hiring process.

Next, it is good to keep yourself familiar with a variety of different skills. If you have many different skills and are adept at all of them, then you can market yourself as someone who can work in a lot of different fields. However, it’s important if you could commit everything to one field and then promote yourself that way, as someone who is highly experienced in the specific field. Sometimes, recruiters look for people who have the most experience in the field, so if you show that you have more experience than other people in the field, you will be more attractive as a prospective translator or interpreter.

Also, it is important to maintain good connections with the people you work with. Make sure to be as courteous as possible and project yourself as a professional translator or interpreter. Also be sure to make friends in the industry. If you have a network of colleagues, then you can help each other find work. There are a lot of times when translators or interpreters might be too busy with an assignment they are currently working on to take any new client requests. In this situation, they try to refer a colleague, and you might be able to be that colleague that they refer. If that happens, you will establish a connection with a new client, and maybe be able to connect with even more clients afterwards.

Growing your presence as an interpreter or translator is not something that you can just do overnight, it takes time and effort. But if you are able to grow your presence, then it will benefit you in ways that you might not expect. You will reach many new clients, and build your own network of clients that know who you are and would love to work with you on future assignments.

So what do you need to know about localization? Here are some of the highlights of what you need to be aware of when you begin localization. This will mainly focus on both the language aspect of the localization process as well as the marketing strategy of localization.

The first thing is that you know who you are marketing to. Not every product perfectly appeals to everyone in the same way. Some people will be much more interested in your product and some will not. You have to thus really know who you want to focus on. The language that you use to market your product to your potential customers is also very important, and you should thus make sure that any translation that is produced is reviewed by someone who is either a native of the country, or native currently living in the country. This will ensure that they are caught up with all current trends and know what can and cannot be included to avoid any unnaturalness or offensive language.

On the topic of using a native who is currently living in the target country, it is also important to note that they will be able to help to discern any cultural taboos such as design choices (i.e. colors, placement of letters, layout of advertisements, etc).  When they are reviewing the translation, they not only provide a fresh set of eyes with which to see the translation work, but they are basically acting as if they were a consumer seeing your product for the first time in the region you are trying to expand into. This will help to provide invaluable insight into what can be improved or fixed upon and help to develop strategies for the future.

Another thing that is important to take note of is making sure that the native speaker you ultimately choose is well vetted. Some companies might outsource this to other companies that have reviewers as to avoid some of the cost of vetting and hiring, but it is important to ultimately make sure that the reviewer who is chosen is not only proficient in the language that they speak, but also that they are able to understand the goal of your company as well as its culture so that it can properly be conveyed to the new market.

These are just a few of the things to know when starting localization of a product for a new region. Even for regions with similar cultures to your own, it is important to make sure that you have a native review whatever you have before releasing it. Doing so will save you a headache and possibly a fortune in potential legal fees or redesign fees.

People have come up with all sorts of ways to show appreciation and help each other during these hard times. In cities across the world, when 8 PM rolls around people head to their balconies and yards to cheer, clap, bang pots, and make as much noise as they can to show their support for health care workers. There are countless examples of individuals taking action to make the best of the situation, like this neighborhood in Oakland that threw a “social distance block party” and these people performing music and leading exercises for their apartment buildings.

Social media is a great tool for helping people and spreading positivity. People are using social media to connect people who need help with people who can provide that help. For example, the app Nextdoor (a social media app for your neighborhood) has developed a “help map” feature, where participants can sign up to be “helpers” in their neighborhood. Anyone in the area who needs extra assistance knows that they can contact these people to run errands, do check-ins, etc. Cultural institutions, like museums, are using social media to connect with their fans in new and fun ways. For example, the Getty Museum has posted a challenge online for people to recreate works of art with everyday objects. The results are creative and hilarious, and bring some lightness to the difficult situation of being stuck at home.

Companies and corporations are also taking huge steps to help people during this pandemic. General Motors has partnered with Ventec, a ventilator supply company, to drastically increase the number of ventilators that are being manufactured. This has the added benefit of keeping many GM workers employed that might otherwise have lost their jobs. Some distilleries, such as the Shine Distillery in Portland, have started making hand sanitizer, a critical resource that is currently quite difficult to obtain. These are just a few examples; please check out this Forbes list for more.

At Monterey Language Services, we love seeing all the ways that individuals, organizations and companies are coming together to provide help in this difficult situation. We are doing our best to provide help how we can: we are continuing to provide translation and interpretation services for any client that needs it. We also want to spread the message that we are here for each other, and we can get through this together!

A total of 63 people responded to our question, and these 63 responses amount to a total of 4,708 words. Of these 4,708 words, 192 relate to machine/technology/automation/social media/internet, while only 133 relate to humans/people/individuals^[1]. Two thirds (42) were in favor of technology. No one was against technology or had a completely negative outlook on the effects of technological automation^[2].

Some concerns or reservations with technology and automation had to do with humans losing jobs to machines and losing face-to-face interaction. However, 48 respondents (76%) mentioned humans having a role in the automated workplace. Of these 48 respondents, 7 elaborated that automation may replace jobs involving repetitive tasks, but will free up humans to do more important work: customer follow-ups, creative and critical thinking, and research and innovation. On the other hand, nine respondents did not mention humans/people/individuals in their responses, whereas all respondents mentioned technology or automation in one form or another. Moreover, only 19 respondents (30%) mentioned a need for human-to-human interaction.

Five respondents expressed their concerns with automating translation and interpretation services. Four of these five respondents believed that humans should still have a role in providing these services. For example, people will still need to correct the mistakes made by machine translation. Specialized translations and reviews of culturally-related work will require human intervention due to the complexity of human language, thought, and emotion. The overall sentiment was that translators and interpreters will not be replaced by technology, but by translators and interpreters who utilize technology to the best of its capabilities. One of the five respondents expressed concern that pay rates for human translators may decrease, since speed and ease of review may increase significantly through the use of technology.

Overall, more than three fourths of respondents mentioned humans having a role in automated workplaces, including in the translation and interpretation industry. In general, respondents had a positive outlook on the effects of technological automation^[3].

Monterey Language Services is committed to bridging the world’s languages by providing quality, professional and efficient translation & interpretation services in over 175 languages. Please feel free to request a quote from us.

^[1] These statistics were determined through word searches for human*/people/person/individual, and for machine/technolog*/automat*/social media/internet and related words.

^[2] These statistics were determined by categorizing whether a response was generally in favor of technology, and whether it had a positive or negative outlook on the effects of technological automation.

^[3] All other statistics were derived from statements made in the responses.

If you consider yourself to be the most social and opinionated person, check this out. Here are easy steps to win:

• Click on the link below:
Monterey Language Services Tech Marathon
• Start a question about Technology
• Invite as many friends as possible
• Keep your thread alive
(i.e. have your friends join, give feedback, and have fun!)
• The longest thread will win
• Price is $100 in cash

The marathon starts immediately. The deadline is April 18th, Friday, 12 pm PDT. The winner will be announced at 5 pm on Monterey Language Services Facebook.

Everyone can chat about future technology. Are you ready for this challenge?

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for a quote.