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Funny mistakes in artificial intelligence translations

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About six years ago, the Los Angeles Times had to delete a tweet claiming that “a 6.8 magnitude earthquake had occurred in Isla Vista.” This was because the earthquake was not new; it had happened in 1925. The post, generated by “artificial intelligence,” had been published automatically!

Although AI tools have developed significantly since then and are becoming increasingly competent, we are still not at the stage where we can sideline journalists and leave the news entirely to artificial intelligence.

The recent proliferation of AI-powered translations is proof of this. It is immediately apparent, especially on news websites, that many foreign-language news stories have been translated into Turkish with the help of AI. As experts emphasize, artificial intelligence can translate news texts from other languages into Turkish, but it cannot 'Turkify' them. Let me share a few examples that caught my eye.

In an article by Artı Gerçek titled “AI translation errors in the US lead to mistakes in asylum applications,” it was evident that it had been translated into Turkish by AI. This was because one sentence was translated as “However, in most cases, it is not yet ready to be used with the 'training wheels' removed and without a human in the loop.” The term translated as “training wheels” refers to “the small wheels attached to bicycles for children just learning to ride.” But this is a metaphor. If a human had translated it, I am sure they would have used a more understandable term like “support measures.”

Independent Türkçe’s article titled “Gaza war in the Russian press” mentioned an “arbitration committee” at the International Court of Justice. However, what it meant by “arbitration committee” were the judges. Instead of “mass killing” of Palestinians in Gaza, it used the phrase “total killing.”

In a BBC Türkçe report titled “TV channel manipulates photo of MP in Australia,” the word “guilty” was used instead of “responsible.” In a Cumhuriyet article about the “Titanic of the Alps,” the sentence “When it sank, about 1,500 of the approximately 2,224 passengers and crew on board lost their lives” was included regarding the ship Santis. However, those were the casualties from the Titanic; there were no human casualties on the Santis because it was sunk intentionally.

Even these examples show how essential the clause “Human oversight must be ensured” is in the “AI usage principles” recently announced by The Guardian. News translated by “artificial intelligence” programs must definitely pass through the supervision of a journalist.

It is impossible to know where the use of artificial intelligence will lead in the future. Instead of staying away or leaving control entirely to it, media organizations should think about how to use artificial intelligence without deviating from journalistic principles and in a way that suits their own needs…

Indeed, Cumhuriyet became the first media organization in Turkey to have its own “artificial intelligence robot” in the GPT Store. Anadolu Agency also prepared an “Ethical usage guide for artificial intelligence in media.” It also established a “Technology and Innovation Directorate” to improve the adaptation and journalistic applications of artificial intelligence.

Last week, this directorate organized a workshop with Amazon to examine the applications of artificial intelligence technologies in the media sector. The workshop focused on AI-based solution models for the needs of the media. Undoubtedly, an “artificial intelligence” program suitable for translating news into Turkish is one of those needs....

AS IF MINISTER KOCA WAS NOT HECKLED EITHER…

The pro-government media once again wore rose-colored glasses on the anniversary of the February 6 earthquakes. It was full of stories about happy earthquake survivors living in furnished homes. President Erdoğan’s speeches in Gaziantep and Hatay adorned the headlines; news about thousands of earthquake survivors drawing lots to receive their homes from TOKİ filled the pages.

However, not all of the houses for which the lots were drawn were even completed; some were just for show. According to the Chamber of Civil Engineers, the number of residences more than 70 percent completed within a year was only 25,119. It had been said that 319,000 residences would be built in a year, but the number of tendered residences remained at 108,936. Of course, these data could not find a place in a single sentence in the pro-government media.

The pro-government media also took a skewed look at the incident where Health Minister Fahrettin Koca and Hatay’s CHP Mayor and mayoral candidate Lütfü Savaş were heckled at the commemoration ceremony in Hatay. They published these reports as if only Lütfü Savaş had been heckled there. They also added to these reports the incident of a woman in Gaziantep showing her reaction to CHP Chairman Özgür Özel.

However, Fahrettin Koca, who could not stomach being heckled, responded to the reactions on social media, saying in summary: “...Is there anyone bothered by the recitation of Fatihas and prayers in silence for their souls? There is a time and place for protest. But these moments of respect are not the time for it.” At the very least, the minister’s response could have been reported; they did not do that either.

The pro-government media also did not see any news value in the police intervention at the commemoration event in Istanbul, the refusal to allow the march of democratic civil society organizations in Hatay, or the Malatya Governor’s Office banning demonstrations for three days.

In short, just as the pro-government media engaged in praise and ignored the problems when the earthquake disaster occurred, they followed the same attitude a year later; they continued to withhold information from the public.

SYRIAN DISCRIMINATION IN FEMICIDE

On the third page of Sözcü, there were two femicide reports one after another. The report about the male killer and his girlfriend, both of whom were Turkish, was given the headline “He killed his girlfriend in the middle of the street.” In the other report, the murdered woman was Russian and the killer was Syrian. Sözcü found the headline “Life sentence for the Syrian who killed his girlfriend” appropriate for this story.

If Sözcü finds the national identity of the male killer important enough to put in the headline, it should have also given the first story the headline “Turkish man killed his girlfriend in the middle of the street.” Not writing that a Turkish man is Turkish when he commits a murder, but highlighting the national identity when a Syrian kills, is more than discrimination; it is pure hate speech. All Syrians are being held responsible for a murder committed by one Syrian.

The correct approach is not to mention it in the headline unless the murder has a direct relationship with the killer or the victim being “Syrian.” Just like not writing that they are Turkish in murders committed by Turkish men…

THE VOICE OF THE COMPANY: YENİ ŞAFAK

I criticized Yeni Şafak for targeting expert witnesses who wrote reports in favor of the public by asking “Are they expert witnesses or a gang?” in my article titled “A new peak in boss journalism.” Yeni Şafak outdid itself again last week; this time, it targeted the judge along with the expert witnesses by naming them.

The reason for targeting the judge of the Ankara 43rd Civil Court of First Instance was that he rejected the price difference request of the firm that built the Kocaeli Stadium. Since the judge relied on the expert report while making this decision, Yeni Şafak gave the text disguised as “news” the headline “Judge-expert gang cooperation”; it was also accusing the judge of “gang activity!”

As before, there was no signature on this text; the name of the firm belonging to the Albayrak group, which filed the lawsuit and owns the newspaper, was hidden again. Clearly, the Albayraks’ law firm had prepared it and sent it to the newspaper.

The Albayraks see no harm in using journalism as a weapon to protect their corporate interests. Yet, Yeni Şafak had come out with the headline “The voice of the nation for 30 years” on January 24, its 30th anniversary. It would have been more accurate if they had said “the voice of the company”...

In a single sentence:

The entire pro-government media, especially the Demirören group media outlets where the series “İnci Taneleri” is broadcast, published MHP Chairman Bahçeli’s speech by omitting the sentence where he expressed the view that the “Dilber character is a sign of conspiracy.”
Habertürk did not name the private school it mentioned in its report on the “private school’s exorbitant book fee demand.”
Hürriyet (Kocaeli and Gaziantep), Sabah (Kocaeli and Gaziantep), Akşam (Bursa and Konya), Yeni Akit (Bursa), Takvim (Gaziantep), and Posta (Konya) published texts promoting the aid of AKP municipalities in the earthquake zone under the guise of news.
Yeni Akit labeled opposition parties as “enemies” in its report titled “Heirs of Erbakan Hoca should not please the enemies.”
Yeni Şafak did not put an “This is an advertisement” warning on the page it published for AKP Kastamonu mayoral candidate Tahsin Babaş titled “Kastamonu will be revived with new projects.”
Türkiye newspaper did not use the credit of AP Photojournalist Metin Yoksu in the photo showing a woman crying with carnations in her hand at the commemoration ceremony on February 6.
Sözcü reported on the basketball match where Bahçeşehir College defeated the Jonova team with the headline “Dragons tore them apart,” turning it into violence.
Türkgün columnist Yıldıray Çiçek tried to humiliate and target DW Reporter Alican Uludağ by calling him an “influence agent” and a “dirty manipulator.”
Hürriyet’s report on the “Painter’s neighbor ordeal” was written one-sidedly without taking the opinion of the accused party.
The mainstream media did not report on public workers who went to Ankara from different cities to announce their wage increase demands being prevented from entering the capital by the police.