AI and your job · data checked October 2026
Will AI replace translators?
Not fully: BLS projects interpreter and translator jobs to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035; machine translation drafts more of the text, while humans review and handle what it misses.
Projected US jobs, 2025–35
+2%
Slower than average · 73,900 jobs in 2025 · BLS group: Interpreters and Translators
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026AI exposure, as rated by BLS
Very high
Out of Low, Moderate, High and Very high. BLS says exposure doesn’t mean job loss.
BLS, 2026How much of the work AI chatbots already help with
#1
Of 785 US jobs ranked by AI applicability (score 0.49)
Microsoft Research, 2025Exposure to generative AI, worldwide
Gradient 3
From Not exposed to Gradient 4, the most exposed
International Labour Organization, 2025These measures use different methods (tasks, real chatbot use, expert ratings), so they can disagree.
“However, many of these jobs cannot be entirely automated because computers cannot yet produce work comparable to what human translators do in most cases.” US Bureau of Labor Statistics
What AI already does well
- Producing first-draft translations that humans then post-edit US Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Interpreting language and cultural information Microsoft Research
- Editing written text Microsoft Research
What still needs you
- Matching skilled human translation quality in most cases US Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Working out a client's needs and specifications: lower success rate Microsoft Research
3 moves for translators this month
- 1Get fast at post-editing machine translation and price that work clearly.
- 2Specialise in fields where errors are costly: legal, medical or certified translation.
- 3Develop live interpreting or localisation skills, which need cultural judgement.
How AI-proof are you, personally?
The job is one part. The free 2-minute check also looks at your money, your security and your mind, and gives you 3 moves.
Check my AI risk as a translator →How worried is the world about AI today? See the AI Fear Index →
BLS figures are US projections for 2025–35; the ILO index covers the world. Microsoft’s ranking reflects how people used Bing Copilot in 2024, not what AI can do at work. General information, not career advice.