The last word: AI-based translation startups are booming, but at a human cost

Manjunath’s phone barely rings anymore. The 45-year-old Malayalam translator once earned Rs 3-4 lakh monthly working from his Bengaluru flat. Now, after two decades in the business, he spends his days wondering if he should write books instead.

The reason is simple: machines have taken over. Where Manjunath once translated documents from scratch, artificial intelligence now does the heavy lifting.”80-90% of the work is already done. We are only sent to review it and correct some bits of it. So our earnings have also halved,” he says, his voice flat with resignation.

His story plays out across India’s translation sector, where a stark paradox is unfolding. A recent Microsoft study found that translators are most likely to be replaced by artificial intelligence.