The King Abdulaziz Public Library and the General Secretariat of the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation, in cooperation with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, launched on Tuesday morning, September 30, the scientific forum accompanying the award ceremony for the winners of the 11th cycle of the award under the title: “Translation and Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges” in Seoul, South Korea.

The forum was inaugurated at Hankuk University by His Excellency Faisal bin Abdulrahman bin Muammar, the General Supervisor of the King Abdulaziz Public Library and the Acting Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the King Abdullah International Award for Translation. The event included a distinguished group of scholars and researchers specializing in translation and artificial intelligence technologies.

In his opening speech, Mr. Faisal bin Muammar thanked Professor Young Won Park, President of Hankuk University, and the esteemed attendees. He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s cultural and knowledge initiatives, emphasizing that the Kingdom places translation and innovation at the heart of its vision for cultural and developmental renaissance. He affirmed the belief that horizons are not limited by language and that the greatest investment is in alert minds that capture new ideas and turn them into opportunities that make a difference.

Bin Muammar pointed out that the forum is an open dialogue platform to explore the horizons of artificial intelligence and outline the future of translation amidst digital transformations. He expressed hope that the forum would generate creative ideas and serve as a broad space for constructive dialogue and knowledge exchange among various disciplines and expertise. He also thanked all lecturers, experts, and participants, as well as Hankuk University for its generous hosting and the Saudi Embassy in the Republic of Korea for its constructive cooperation and sincere support.

In his speech, Young Park, President of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said it was a great honor to welcome everyone to this purposeful academic forum held at Hankuk University in Seoul as part of the 11th King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation ceremony. He praised the distinguished role of the King Abdulaziz Public Library in Saudi Arabia, established in Riyadh in 1985, which has grown into a leading cultural and intellectual institution preserving Arab and Islamic heritage while advancing global scientific research and supporting translation, research, and cultural exchange.

Young Park concluded by emphasizing the timely topic “Translation and Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges,” exploring how translation is transforming in the AI era, where new technologies expand access to knowledge and support translators, while raising important ethical and professional questions.

Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies

The forum included two sessions. The first, titled “Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in Translation,” was chaired by Dr. Yoon Eun Kyung (Nabila), Head of the Arabic Department at Hankuk University. Dr. Yahya Mufreh Al-Zahrani, a member of the award’s scientific committee, presented a research paper on “AI Tools and Emerging Technologies in Translation,” exploring the AI tools translators need, understanding their impact, classifying them, focusing on strengths and factors affecting their operation, and discussing ethical issues, text ownership, accuracy, context, machine translation, and automatic translation.

Dr. Hee Won Baek (Leila Baek) from Hankuk University presented a study titled “Translation Between Machine and Human: Towards Effective Management to Enhance Translator Performance,” aiming to develop new teaching methods for literary and human translation for students based on AI technology, detailing Korean-Arabic literary and human translation.

Dr. Buthaina Mohammed Al-Thuwaini, a member of the award’s scientific committee, spoke on “Who Owns the Translated Text? Ethical Issues in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” noting that AI tools have opened vast horizons in translation fields by providing exceptional opportunities for efficiency and innovation. These tools can process huge volumes of texts quickly and accurately and offer direct support to translators with a single click. However, she highlighted two main challenges: ethical and legal dimensions and intellectual property rights and translators’ rights. Misuse of machine-generated translations raises deep ethical questions and underscores the urgent need for an integrated international legal framework to protect intellectual property rights of translated content.

Applications and Strategies

The second session, titled “Translation From and Into Arabic in AI Applications,” chaired by Dr. Mai bint Mohammed Al-Rashid, a member of the award’s scientific committee, included two topics. The first, “Translation Between Arabic and Korean,” was presented by Dr. Kwak Sun Lee from Hankuk University. She explained that Korean publishing houses issued about 64,000 books in 2024, with over 10,000 translated books, but translations from Arabic do not exceed 77 books, including 28 religious books, 11 children’s books, 10 literary works, and 11 history books. Korean publishers are working to expand translation spaces between Korean and Arabic, such as the Korean Institute for Literary Translation, and to benefit from AI technologies in translation.

The second topic, “From Technologies to Values: Strategies and Determinants of Responsible AI Use,” was presented by Dr. Mohammed Al-Didawi, former Head of the Arabic Translation Department at the United Nations. He explained that synthetic translation is a product of AI and part of the rapid technological development driven by computer dominance, with economic and commercial considerations. He noted challenges in distinguishing between craftsmanship and artificiality but acknowledged many advanced applications in the translation field.

Today, AI and emerging technologies are part of multiple fields including translation, affecting how translators work by providing innovative tools that improve efficiency and accuracy while raising linguistic, cultural, professional, technical, and ethical issues.