I’ve just added to the “Other Presentations” page of this blog the presentation I recently gave on Perplexity AI at the AI in Translation Summit.
What is Perplexity AI, and how can it help us?
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| A Perplexity query |
Perplexity AI is an innovative search tool combining web searching with language models for concise, contextual answers.
Unlike traditional search engines, it gives conversational answers with citations, and, unlike AI tools like ChatGPT, it offers real-time web searching, with several advantages for translators, such as access to current information on specialized topics, helping us understand the context of our projects. It also helps in terminology research for domain-specific terms.
Perplexity can verify short translated segments by cross-referencing our translations against its search results, to identify potential errors, and the paid version has enhanced privacy features, allowing secure upload of confidential documents.
Perplexity helps gather contextual information and find references for our translations.
It provides us with detailed overviews of complex topics.
For example, if we are translating a legal document about international child custody laws, we can ask Perplexity for a summary with a query like "Summarize the differences between child custody laws in Italy and the US", and the system compiles a concise summary from various sources.
Perplexity incorporates contextual information in its responses; this means that we can ask follow-up questions to dig deeper without repeating the background. For example, we might inquire what weight is given to children's wishes in custody decisions.
Perplexity provides citations, which allow us to verify the sources it finds for us; but remember that we should always cross-check crucial information. The best use for this system is as a starting point to guide our research, not as the sole source of information.
By leveraging Perplexity's real-time search and summarization functions, we can find better information on complex subjects, speeding up our background research.
While Perplexity is a powerful tool, it's important to remember that, like all AI models, it may occasionally produce errors and hallucinations: it’s a helpful assistant, not a replacement for our expertise.
