Poll: Clients often think fluent AI drafts mean less human work. How do you address rate pressure? Autor wątku: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Clients often think fluent AI drafts mean less human work. How do you address rate pressure?".
View the poll results »
| | | | Hipyan Nopri 
Indonezja
Local time: 06:52
angielski > indonezyjski
+ ...
| Charge for Responsibility, Not Keystrokes | Oct 11 |
I voted “Other.”
I position myself as the professional who manages the client’s risk, and I bill AI-assisted review by the hour.
In legal translation, fluent machine output is often more dangerous than clumsy output, because its errors are hidden.
Per-word discounts and tracked changes both suggest I am paid per correction, while flat fees ignore that review time grows with the length of the text and the quality of the draft.
An hourl... See more I voted “Other.”
I position myself as the professional who manages the client’s risk, and I bill AI-assisted review by the hour.
In legal translation, fluent machine output is often more dangerous than clumsy output, because its errors are hidden.
Per-word discounts and tracked changes both suggest I am paid per correction, while flat fees ignore that review time grows with the length of the text and the quality of the draft.
An hourly rate, estimated in advance from a sample, reflects what clients actually pay for: my full responsibility for a document they can safely rely on. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | The hard sell continues? | Oct 11 |
Surely there must be other far more interesting poll topics than AI? This reminds me of the days back when CAT tools and MT dominated all the Proz polls, non-stop.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgia
Local time: 01:52
Członek ProZ.com
od 2020
francuski > niderlandzki
+ ...
AI or MT drafts obviously mean less human work. Otherwise it would be impossible for me to offer a lower MTPE rate while remaining profitable.
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Peter Motte
Belgia
Local time: 01:52
Członek ProZ.com
od 2009
niderlandzki > flamandzki
+ ...
CAT, MT and AI made it possible to do more in a shorter time, but at a certain moment it stops.
What remains to be done, becomes more and more difficult. The previous "lower word rates" idea because of repetitions and fuzzy matches, doesn't hold up anymore.
That doesn't necessarily mean we should paid by the hour instead of per word, but it does mean going on lower rates because there are less words to be done, is not the way to move forward.
As a matter of fact, we went on wit... See more CAT, MT and AI made it possible to do more in a shorter time, but at a certain moment it stops.
What remains to be done, becomes more and more difficult. The previous "lower word rates" idea because of repetitions and fuzzy matches, doesn't hold up anymore.
That doesn't necessarily mean we should paid by the hour instead of per word, but it does mean going on lower rates because there are less words to be done, is not the way to move forward.
As a matter of fact, we went on with that idea for too long already, but now it's completely over.
One of my clients (actually, he isn't a client because I've never accepted one of his jobs), sends jobs based on word price of sometimes less than 1 euro. The biggest job ever was approoximately 8 euro's. There is no way anyone can do that, with or without AI. I wonder which people take on those jobs. ▲ Collapse
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Only one of my clients has been asking for PEMT jobs for some time and he pays by the hour. Occasionally his AI drafts are rather good but the final copy does need a human eye. We can’t beat how quickly an AI draft is generated, but although it often sounds legitimate if left unchecked a mistake can propagate across documents. What starts as an apparently minor error can morph into a widely accepted falsehood.
P.S. This succession of questions about AI are becoming really boring!
| | | | | Clients often think ... ? | 12:22 |
Clients 'often think' lots of dumb things. That alone doesn't mean they're always - or even occasionally - right.
When 'clients' - or their self-appointed spokesperson (a.k.a. today's pollster) - shows us the evidence, perhaps the poll question might acquire some validity, actually be worth answering.
The question is based on mere conjecture. As such, it merely feeds into the myth that translation is so easy, so worthless, that even artificial insanity can do it to th... See more Clients 'often think' lots of dumb things. That alone doesn't mean they're always - or even occasionally - right.
When 'clients' - or their self-appointed spokesperson (a.k.a. today's pollster) - shows us the evidence, perhaps the poll question might acquire some validity, actually be worth answering.
The question is based on mere conjecture. As such, it merely feeds into the myth that translation is so easy, so worthless, that even artificial insanity can do it to the client's satisfaction.
JL ▲ Collapse
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I think it is losing battle. AI is going to become a permanent fixture. For me, it is a fait accompli. You either post-edit or you don't, but if you don't, you risk missing out. My refusals in the past have led to me being taken out of the equation. Over the last two months, I have had one and a half days' work and I would say AI is largely to blame for such a huge downturn. This is despite 20 years' experience and clients very happy with my work. I'm looking into other fields of work now,... See more I think it is losing battle. AI is going to become a permanent fixture. For me, it is a fait accompli. You either post-edit or you don't, but if you don't, you risk missing out. My refusals in the past have led to me being taken out of the equation. Over the last two months, I have had one and a half days' work and I would say AI is largely to blame for such a huge downturn. This is despite 20 years' experience and clients very happy with my work. I'm looking into other fields of work now, but it is difficult as I am 3 years away from retiring. Agencies are also struggling with the new landscape as end customers demand lower and lower rates. I have a very pessimistic view of our profession. ▲ Collapse
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Thayenga
Niemcy
Local time: 01:52
Członek ProZ.com
od 2009
angielski > niemiecki
+ ...
Why should I lower my rate just because a client has a dream?
And here we go again, another AI poll which is just as boring as its predecessors and all those yet to come.
| | | | Peter Motte
Belgia
Local time: 01:52
Członek ProZ.com
od 2009
niderlandzki > flamandzki
+ ...
| We gave in to easily | 15:50 |
Ian Keith Jones Williams wrote:
Agencies are also struggling with the new landscape as end customers demand lower and lower rates.
Which makes me think: we gave in too easily to lower rates when CAT tools came. Getting lower and lower is not feasable anymore. It looks as if they think we can offer the work for wages paid low-wage countries, but we can't. At the certain moment we have to stop accepting lower rates, because the translations become more difficult as the easy stuff has been done by computers.
[Edited at 2026-10-12 16:13 GMT]
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Peter Motte wrote:
Ian Keith Jones Williams wrote:
Agencies are also struggling with the new landscape as end customers demand lower and lower rates.
Which makes me thing: we gave in too easily to lower rates when CAT tools came. Getting lower and lower is not feasable anymore. It looks as if they think we can offer the work for wages paid low-wage countries, but we can't. At the certain moment we have to stop accepting lower rates, because the translations become more difficult as the easy stuff has been done by computers.
Some clients will only be happy when we pay for the services we offer.
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