ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Artif. Intell.
Sec. AI for Human Learning and Behavior Change
Volume 8 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frai.2025.1624754
Man vs. Machine: Can AI Outperform Student Translations?
Provisionally accepted
- King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia
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This study compares the quality of English-to-Arabic translations produced by Google Translate (GT) with those generated by student translators. Despite advancements in neural machine translation technology, educators often remain skeptical about the reliability of AI tools like GT and often discourage their use. To investigate this perception, 20 Saudi university students majoring in English and Translation produced human translations in Arabic. These studentgenerated translations, along with their GT equivalents, were rated by 22 professors with experience in language-related fields. The analysis revealed a significant preference for GT translations over those produced by students, suggesting that GT's quality may exceed that of student translators. Interestingly, while GT translations were consistently rated higher, instructors often misattributed the better translations to students and the poorer ones to GT. This reveals a strong perceptual bias against AI-generated translations. The findings support the inclusion of AI-assisted translation tools in translation training. Incorporating these tools will help students prepare for a job market where AI is playing an increasingly important role.Incorporating such tools will help students prepare for a growing job market in which AI is playing a growing role. At the same time, educators should adopt strategies incorporating AI tools without sacrificing the development of students' core translation skills.
Keywords: AI in Language Education, Machine Translation, Google translate, Translation pedagogy, Instructor Perceptions, English-to-Arabic AI Translation
Received: 07 May 2025; Accepted: 24 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Alkhofi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Anas Alkhofi, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia
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