At the 30th Anniversary of the Turkish Informatics Foundation: On AI, Ethics, Data, and the Future of Translation
Senem Kobya, CEO of Dijital Tercüme and Localization Agency, attended “The Equation of Tomorrow” event last week, part of the 30th-anniversary celebrations of the Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV). The event focused on AI, digital transformation, and data policies. Throughout the event, Kobya met with leading figures from the tech world and had the opportunity to discuss with various experts how the translation industry is positioning itself amid this major transformation.
The event began with an opening speech by TBV President Faruk Eczacıbaşı, followed by compelling presentations from Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of Digitaleurope, and Karen Hao, a NYT Bestselling author and journalist featured on the TIME100 AI list. Critical topics were covered, including the ethical boundaries of AI, the risks of data collection, the need for regulation, and digital security.
During a brief but intensive conversation with Karen Hao, Senem Kobya highlighted the biggest challenge in the translation industry: “If the data isn’t right, the translation isn’t right.” Hao’s emphasis that human linguistic abilities are still beyond machines served as a meaningful confirmation for everyone.
The discussion with Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl concluded with a mutual agreement on the need for AI regulations to be implemented globally and without delay. In the discussions with both leaders, the critical role of translation in ethics, accuracy, and localization was also emphasized.
A common point emerged from conversations with attendees:
While experts utilize AI for daily correspondence, they invariably turn to professional translation agencies for strategic, legal, and technical translations. The reasons for this include: the lack of verified data accuracy, privacy risks, differences in legislation, and the requirement for localization appropriate to the target culture.
As demonstrated in the examples Localization Agency. shares weekly, while AI can convey the source meaning, the style, structure, and contextual integrity of legal texts still demand the intuitive intelligence of human translators.
Furthermore, it was invaluable to listen live to Mr. Faruk Eczacıbaşı, Chairman of the Board of Eczacıbaşı Group—a client for whom we have provided translation and localization services in various fields for over 15 years—and to draw inspiration from his vision for informatics and communication.
Beyond this, we gathered with many stakeholders from various sectors to exchange views on the future of translation, sustainable language policies, and data quality.
At the end of the event, we upheld a Localization Agency tradition by visiting the simultaneous interpretation booth to congratulate all the interpreters and the technical team. They remain the unseen heroes of translation in the field.
This event demonstrated once again why the intuitive human mastery of language remains indispensable, even with the rising influence of artificial intelligence.
