BoM/TWS Message Forum

There's a lot to think about in Nostrum's post. I will just address the two points that don't require a lot of thinking:

>> While AI would definitely provide a reasoning for the translation (akin to how someone like Caleb would explain why X word means this and not that), it'd find multiple hurdles. For example, machine learning would still be unable to translate the contents of the book at once - you'd need to drip-feed the content. Attempting to do so would cause an untold amount of glitches, for one.

Yes, AI would glitch out when putting in too much text. BTW, reference to "online translators" is a special case of what I referred to above as using "going online" as a kind of vague allusion to using AI. All past references to using "online translators" can be interpreted as referring to AI doing translation.

>> Even if drip-fed, there are points where AI will be stymied. Take for example the 8th spell, which has two possible translations: "use me to solve me" and "my use is my solution". Judging by how it behaves, something like ChatGPT would suggest both if prompted at different times, and if prompted what would that mean, the results would be esoteric - at that point, the idea should be that AI can only take you that far.

Instead of speculating, I went and tested it.

I asked ChatGPT: "Translate into Latin the English phrase "Use me to solve me" with the sense that the sentence itself is the solution to some kind of puzzle." (No, the sentence is not itself the solution, but I wanted to ensure that there is something self-reflexive about the sentence, that it refers in some sense to an "itself.")

It translated the sentence as: "Utere me ad me solvendum."

I then asked Grok: "Translate into English the phrase 'Utere me ad me solvendum'."

It gave me: "Use me to free myself." Which if you know the story, has some terrifying implications.

I then asked Grok if there could be other translations of the phrase. To which it replied, "The Latin phrase "Utere me ad me solvendum" is somewhat ambiguous due to the flexibility of Latin grammar and the multiple meanings of its words. The translation "Use me to free myself" is a reasonable interpretation, but other translations could also make sense depending on the intended context. Here are alternative translations and their rationales:"

Those translations (I omit the rationales) are: "Use me to release myself"; "use me to redeem myself"; "Employ me to resolve myself"; "Use me to absolve myself"; "Make use of me to untie myself."

These can all be read, with a squint, as hinting at the intended meaning, though only the last one gets kind of close.

I will also add that ChatGPT offered to give a translation of the English phrase into medieval Latin, and gave back "Adhibe me ad me solvendum." Grok, when asked to translate this, offered most of the same translations back. But, interestingly, it noted that "Adhibe" has the connotation of "careful application or engagement" and so also offered "Apply me to resolve myself" which also comes close to the intended meaning (though still with a squint).

All of which is to say, I think, that Nostrum is right that AI will offer varying translations, but it will be quick to offer them all at once rather than just randomly spitting different ones out, and it will also give reasons for offering each of the different possibilities, which will be food for thought for the magician using it.