FrontLines Spring 2025 - Flipbook - Page 3
Artificial Intelligence: Helping Bible
Translation Advance Vision 2025
Artificial intelligence (AI) is part of our daily lives,
powering tools like GPS, virtual assistants and search
engines. But when it comes to Bible translation, many
Christians are curious about its effectiveness. For more
than a decade, AI has been aiding translation efforts and
is helping Wycliffe and our global partners move closer
to achieving Vision 2025 — a God-sized vision to have
a translation project in progress in every language still
needing one by the end of this year.
Understanding how AI helps Bible translators is key to
informing our curiosities. AI processes large amounts of
data to mimic human reasoning, pattern recognition and
problem-solving at speeds far beyond human capability.
For language translation, AI performs best with widely
spoken languages, such as English, where there are
abundant content resources. However, it can also assist
with less-resourced languages by building foundational
tools for future translation work.
In Indonesia, a mobile app is being used to gather data
from multilingual speakers to translate phrases from
well-documented languages into lesser-known ones. This
data trains AI systems to assist in translating the Bible for
languages with fewer resources.
Accelerating the Speed of Translation
AI significantly accelerates the traditionally slower
process of Bible translation. It generates rough drafts
for translators, learns from completed translations and
provides suggestions for future translation work. Since
2013, Wycliffe has used AI to boost efforts; and teams
report up to 50% faster translation rates while
maintaining our commitment to accurate, clear and
natural Bible translation. Advanced AI now handles
complex tasks like analyzing biblical context, identifying
language dialects and creating interactive Bible tools.
Projects like Slingshot, led by illumiNations, are using AI to
advance 80 simultaneous Bible translations!
Bible Translators Are Still Vital
to Completing the Task
Ultimately we rely not on technology or tools but on
the work of the Holy Spirit as He moves through Bible
translation. Local language communities, translation
experts and Bible scholars, guided by the Spirit, carefully
review AI-generated translations to ensure accuracy. AI is
not autonomous — it’s a tool that, when used wisely,
amplifies human efforts.
More than 800* known Vision 2025 languages are still in
need of Bible translation work to begin, and AI can be a
game changer. It helps overcome challenges that would
otherwise take humans decades to address. As technology
improves, Bible translation will become faster and more
efficient, bringing Scripture to people in languages and
formats that resonate deeply with them.
With God’s provision, AI will continue to support
progress toward Vision 2025. By embracing this tool,
Christians can share the Good News of Jesus Christ more
widely and quickly than ever before.
This content has been adapted from an article originally published on
crosswalk.com by Doug Hennum, outsourced chief innovation officer for
Wycliffe USA.
*As of January 1, 2025.
