Working with Gen Z & thinking about AI

Gen Z help in the office

We had two Bible college students/graduates helping in the office in early October, and they were a huge help! My colleague Lynette had two Aboriginal ladies from Yirrkala in for a workshop at the same time, and the Gen Z-ers*  helped in so many ways. They helped the translators use the computer for drafting and checking, one of them helped them check the spelling in a Bible reprint and fixed the verse numbering, the other made picture books with newly translated Scripture, and worked with a Kriol speaker to make a calendar with Bible verses, and they drafted a couple of PEV psalms.

*Gen Z covers approx. 13-28 year olds.

Give thanks for Abbi and Jess, having extra help when workshops are on really takes the pressure off the rest of us. Pray for them both as they consider what study and work to do in the future. 

AI translation?

My new colleague Anne is also Gen Z (just), which she likes to demonstrate by sneaking terms we haven't heard of into her work reports. I showed her the AI generated Gen Z Bible, which she thought only used Gen Z slang correctly a small portion of the time, and often sounded very cheesy. It's good for a laugh, but don't try to find out what the Bible really says by reading it. Like many AI generated things at the moment, it's not all that accurate!

(Note Lit in Gen Z slang means excellent.)

Luke 1:10 And like, everyone in the crowd was totally praying outside while the incense was lit.

(Excellent or burning?)

Luke 1:15 Yo, this dude gonna be mad respected by the Lord, and he ain't gonna be getting lit or anything; he gonna be filled with the Holy Ghost from the time he still in his mom's belly.

(Lit was a slang term for drunk a century ago...)

Luke 1:16. And he will help many of the kids from Israel to find God.

(Translated from King James' "children of Israel", but it actually means all people of Israel, not just kids!)

Luke 1:39-40. So Mary was like, 'Yo, it's go time!' and she bounced to the hills like super fast, heading to this city called Juda. So I went to Zacharias' crib and said 'Yo, what's up Elisabeth.'

(King James just had, "And entered..." referring back to Mary, but with no subject/person specified, AI couldn't figure out who it referred to and added in "I". It definitely wasn't Luke who went to see Elizabeth!)

AI is beginning to be used in Bible translation, but it still needs a lot of human input to get it right.