O papel do tradutor na era da inteligência artificial e o trato com a subjetividade.

Abstract

The evolution of literary translation and the influence of subjectivity in the translation process, especially in the contemporary context marked by the increasing use of machine translation systems based on artificial intelligence (AI), are pivotal for the translator's work today. By investigating how the translator’s subjectivity, essential for preserving cultural and stylistic nuances in literary translations, is being affected by automation, this research focuses on the tension between the inherent complexity of human work and the technological advances that have transformed the field. Based on authors such as Lawrence Venuti (1995) and Rosemary Arrojo (1996), who highlight the importance of subjectivity in the act of translating and reinforce the view that translation is not merely a literal transposition of words but a creative and interpretative process, the research examines the impact of technological innovations discussed by Matusov (2019) and Bentivogli et al. (2016), who explore the capabilities and limitations of AI-based translation systems like Neural Machine Translation (NMT). Methodologically, the analysis was conducted through a qualitative bibliographic review, utilizing academic platforms such as Scielo and Google Scholar, and addressing works in both Portuguese and English. The results indicate that, although AI has reached a high level of sophistication and offers efficient tools for translators, there are still significant limitations in capturing the subjective and cultural elements of literary texts. Moreover, despite these advancements, automatic translation systems cannot fully replace the creative role of the human translator, who remains fundamental in ensuring translations that go beyond literal meaning, preserving the cultural context and style of the original text. It is argued that AI technologies should be viewed as complementary tools, not substitutes, reinforcing the ongoing importance of the human translator in mediating cultures, especially in the literary field, where subjectivity plays a critical role.