Translated Measured the Speed to Singularity in AI Using Trends in Machine Translation

Rome – December 21, 2022

For the first time in history, Translated was able to quantify the speed at which we are approaching singularity in artificial intelligence (AI). The discovery was made possible through analysis of a vast quantity of post-editing tasks performed by top professional translators over many years. Our CEO, Marco Trombetti, recently shared the discovery with an audience of AI researchers and language industry leaders, showing how close we are to reaching the singularity in translation. If progress in machine translation (MT) quality continues at its current rate, within the next several years the highest-performing professional translators will spend the same time correcting a translation produced by machine translation as they will correcting one completed by their peers.

We estimate that reaching singularity in translation will bring a tenfold increase in requests for professional translations and at least 100 times growth in demand for MT.


This market growth estimate is based on our observations of a growing demand for translation in an increasingly global world and the awareness of the evolving quality of MT, which allows translating more content while reducing costs.

Translated has noted that its clients are doubling down on making their content available in more languages, as they see the increased return on investment driven by this strategy.

This increased momentum is directly connected to and enabled by the progress in AI-powered translation capabilities, recently highlighted by Gartner, which recognizes Translated an industry leader.

Many AI researchers believe that solving the language translation problem is the closest thing to producing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). This is because natural language is by far the most complex problem we have in AI. It requires accurate modeling of reality in order to work, more so than any other narrow AI. Thus, the evidence that Translated has provided regarding the closing of the gap between what expert human translators and an optimized machine translation (MT) system can produce is quite possibly the most compelling evidence of success at scale seen in both the MT and AI communities.

Industry Recognition of a Leading Perfect Symbiosis


Translated has been developing the perfect symbiosis between professional translators and machine translation for over 20 years, starting with the first-ever open-source CAT tool, Matecat, and followed by ModernMT, our award-winning, patented, context-adaptive MT. In 2022, our CEO Marco Trombetti was invited to provide the opening keynote speech at both the top professional language service conference, SlatorCon, and the prominent annual conference on machine translation held by the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas (AMTA) in Orlando. These invitations confirm Translated as a natural leader in the industry.

25% increase in translator earnings

Machines won't ever replace humans.

AI is already proving to be a valuable tool for translation professionals, helping them translate more content at a higher quality – and that’s not all. Translated has always recognized and valued translators’ contribution to the evolution of MT. Since we began using MT, we have been paying freelancers for both the words they translate and those processed by MT. This approach has resulted in an average increase of 25% in translator compensation. Additionally, those who embraced MT from the beginning have multiplied their revenues three and, in some cases, four times in the last seven years.

We see a future in which an increasing amount of new global business opportunities will emerge.

"We are on a mission to allow everyone to understand and be understood in their own language."
Marco Trombetti – Translated CEO