LITHME: Language in the Human-Machine Era

LITHME: Language in the Human–Machine Era Maarit Koponen University of Eastern Finland maarit.koponen@uef.fi Kais Allkivi-Metsoja Tallinn University kais@tlu.ee Antonio Pareja-Lora Universidad de Alcal´a antonio.parejal@uah.es Dave Sayers University of Jyv¨askyl¨a dave.sayers@cantab.net M´arta Seresi E¨otv¨os Lor´and University seresi.marta@btk.elte.hu Abstract The LITHME COST Action brings to- gether researchers from various fields of study focusing on linguistics and tech- nology. We present the overall goals of LITHME and the network’s working groups focusing on diverse questions re- lated to language and technology. As an example of the work addressing machine translation within LITHME, we discuss the activities of the working group on lan- guage work and language professionals. 1 Introduction Language in the Human–Machine Era (LITHME) is a research and innovation network funded by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). It is coordinated by the University of Jyv¨askyl¨a, Finland, and has more than 300 mem- bers from universities, research institutions and companies in 52 countries (all 27 EU states and 25 other countries worldwide). The network brings together researchers, de- velopers and other specialists with diverse back- grounds with the goal of sharing insights about how new and emerging technologies will im- pact interaction and language use. By “human– machine era”, we envision a time when humans will be interacting and conversing with artificial in- telligence (AI) technology that is not confined only to mobile devices but integrated with our senses through virtual and augmented reality. Machine translation (MT) is one of the key technologies en- abling communication across languages. c⃝ 2022 The authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 licence, no derivative works, attribution, CC- BY-ND. LITHME focuses on two aspects which are shaping human communication (Sayers et al., 2021). On the one hand, we will increasingly be speaking through technology, which can translate between languages in real time as well as alter voices and facial movements. On the other hand, we will also be speaking to technology, which will understand both the content and the context of natural language. This will lead to increas- ingly substantive and meaningful real-time con- versations with devices like smart assistants. En- hanced virtual reality featuring lifelike characters will enable learning and even socialising among intelligent and responsive artificial partners. Throughout its four-year duration (2020–2024), the LITHME network of researchers aims to ex- plore the impact that various technologies, includ- ing MT, have on language and communication. We investigate the opportunities, the new ways to talk, to translate, to remember, and to learn, but also the uncertainties and potential inequalities or other ad- verse effects. Deliverables consist of open-access forecast re- ports, the first of which was published in 2021 (Sayers et al., 2021), multimedia presentations, guidelines on ethics, safety, equality and accessi- bility for emerging language technologies, and in- terim reports of activities on the LITHME web- site.1 LITHME organises an annual conference and a training school focusing on language and technology, workshops, short-term scientific mis- sions2 and invited talks. In addition to collabo- ration between researchers, LITHME aims to fa- cilitate …

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