Exploring ethical considerations in machine translation: Addressing bias and cultural sensitivity

Jinfang Yao; Shaidatul Akma Adi Kasuma; Hisham Noori Hussain  Al-Hashimy

doi:10.32674/gs97fy88

Authors

Jinfang Yao Universiti Sains Malaysia https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6320-8784
Shaidatul Akma Adi Kasuma Universiti Sains Malaysia
Hisham Noori Hussain Al-Hashimy University of Basrah, Iraq https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5006-6054

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32674/gs97fy88

Keywords:

Ethical Consideration, Machine Translation, Cultural Sensitivity

Abstract

Through this paper, we aim to explore the ethical considerations related to machine translation, with a focus on eliminating bias and enhancing cultural sensitivity. By considering the experiences of individual participants, we aim to strengthen the ability of algorithms to adapt to diverse cultural environments, thereby contributing to the advancement of machine translation. Using partial least squares (PLS), we analyzed data from 5,000 participants, of whom 178 were specifically selected, to investigate the factors contributing to machine translation bias and overlooked cultural nuances. We explained the key determinants of machine translation bias and proposed solutions. This study provides practical suggestions for designing machine translation systems that are both ethical and culturally sensitive, which will directly affect developers, policymakers, and stakeholders in the translation field. This study employed PLS analysis to offer unique insights into ethical considerations, bias mitigation strategies, cultural sensitivity, and the interrelationships among users in machine translation. By drawing on personal experience, this paper contributes to the growth of machine translation’s popularity.

Author Biographies

Jinfang Yao, Universiti Sains Malaysia

JINFANG YAO is a research scholar in the field of translation studies. She holds a Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) and has seven years of teaching experience in universities. Her areas of interest include literary translation, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) translation, machine translation, and interdisciplinary research. She will obtain her PhD in the field of Theory & Translation Practice at Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2025. Email: jinfang@student.usm.my
Shaidatul Akma Adi Kasuma, Universiti Sains Malaysia

SHAIDATUL AKMA ADI KASUMA obtained her PhD at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, in 2016. She is an associate professor and a PhD supervisor at the School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia. She is interested in the areas of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), technology and language learning, applied linguistics, discourse analysis, English language studies, and language for sustainability communication.

Email: shaidatul@usm.my
Hisham Noori Hussain Al-Hashimy, University of Basrah, Iraq

HISHAM NOORI HUSSAIN AL-HASHIMY has ten years of academic and research experience. He has performed his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees with scholarships at top universities worldwide. He obtained his PhD in Project Management from Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2023. He has published approximately 50 research papers in various WoS, Scopus and international journals. His areas of interest are building information modeling, housing building and planning construction management, project management, and financial management.

Email: hisham.hussain@uobasrah.edu.iq

References

Afthanorhan, A., Awang, Z., & Aimran, N. (2020). Five common mistakes for using partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) in management research. Contemporary Management Research, 16(4), 255-278. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7903/cmr.20247

Attarian, R., & Hashemi, S. (2021). An anonymity communication protocol for security and privacy of clients in IoT-based mobile health transactions. Computer Networks, 190, 107976. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2021.107976

Bartkowiak-Théron, I., McShane, A. L. J., & Knight, M. G. (2020). Departing from anonymous and quantitative student feedback: Fostering learning and teaching development through student evaluations. Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching, 3(Sp. Iss. 1), 118-128. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37074/jalt.2020.3.s1.16

Becker, J.-M., Cheah, J.-H., Gholamzade, R., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2023). PLS-SEM’s most wanted guidance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 35(1), 321-346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2022-0474

Bommasani, R., Hudson, D. A., Adeli, E., Altman, R., Arora, S., von Arx, S., Bernstein, M. S., Bohg, J., Bosselut, A., & Brunskill, E. (2021). On the opportunities and risks of foundation models. arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.07258.

Broesch, T., Crittenden, A. N., Beheim, B. A., Blackwell, A. D., Bunce, J. A., Colleran, H., Hagel, K., Kline, M., McElreath, R., & Nelson, R. G. (2020). Navigating cross-cultural research: methodological and ethical considerations. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287(1935), 20201245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1245

Chuah, S. H.-W., Tseng, M.-L., Wu, K.-J., & Cheng, C.-F. (2021). Factors influencing the adoption of sharing economy in B2B context in China: Findings from PLS-SEM and fsQCA. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 175, 105892. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105892

Corciolani, M., Giuliani, E., Humphreys, A., Nieri, F., Tuan, A., & Zajac, E. J. (2022). Lost and found in translation: How firms use anisomorphism to manage the institutional complexity of CSR. Journal of Management Studies. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12877

Costa-jussà, M. R., Cross, J., Çelebi, O., Elbayad, M., Heafield, K., Heffernan, K., Kalbassi, E., Lam, J., Licht, D., & Maillard, J. (2022). No language left behind: Scaling human-centered machine translation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.04672.

Evans, D. R., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2020). Bifurcations and the emergence of L2 syntactic structures in a complex dynamic system. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 574603. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.574603

Farhad, A., Arkady, A., Magdalena, B., Ondřej, B., Rajen, C., Vishrav, C., Costa-jussa, M. R., Cristina, E.-B., Angela, F., & Christian, F. (2021). Findings of the 2021 conference on machine translation (WMT21). Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Machine Translation,

Fernandez Lynch, H. (2020). The right to withdraw from controlled human infection studies: justifications and avoidance. Bioethics, 34(8), 833-848. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bioe.12704

Galehdar, N., Toulabi, T., Kamran, A., & Heydari, H. (2021). Exploring nurses' perception of taking care of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID‐19): A qualitative study. Nursing open, 8(1), 171-179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.616

Gionchetti, E. (2022). Twitter, social corporate responsibility and economic performance: How multinational companies exploit social media.

Gupta, M., Parra, C. M., & Dennehy, D. (2022). Questioning racial and gender bias in AI-based recommendations: Do espoused national cultural values matter? Information Systems Frontiers, 24(5), 1465-1481. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-021-10156-2

Hair Jr, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Danks, N. P., & Ray, S. (2021). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using R: A workbook. Springer Nature. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80519-7

Hovy, D., & Prabhumoye, S. (2021). Five sources of bias in natural language processing. Language and Linguistics Compass, 15(8), e12432. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12432

Ibáñez, J. C., & Olmeda, M. V. (2022). Operationalising AI ethics: how are companies bridging the gap between practice and principles? An exploratory study. AI & SOCIETY, 37(4), 1663-1687. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01267-0

Islam, T., Hussain, D., Ahmed, I., & Sadiq, M. (2021). Ethical leadership and environment specific discretionary behaviour: the mediating role of green human resource management and moderating role of individual green values. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences/Revue Canadienne Des Sciences de L'Administration, 38(4), 442-459. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1637

Kasperė, R., Horbačauskienė, J., Motiejūnienė, J., Liubinienė, V., Patašienė, I., & Patašius, M. (2021). Towards sustainable use of machine translation: usability and perceived quality from the end-user perspective. Sustainability, 13(23), 13430. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313430

Khan, A. G., Li, Y., Akram, Z., & Akram, U. (2021). Does bad gossiping trigger for targets to hide knowledge in morally disengaged? New multi-level insights of team relational conflict. Journal of Knowledge Management, 26(9), 2370-2394. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-08-2021-0609

Kiritchenko, S., Nejadgholi, I., & Fraser, K. C. (2021). Confronting abusive language online: A survey from the ethical and human rights perspective. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, 71, 431-478. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1613/jair.1.12590

Levinson, A. H., Crepeau-Hobson, M. F., Coors, M. E., Glover, J. J., Goldberg, D. S., & Wynia, M. K. (2020). Duties when an anonymous student health survey finds a hot spot of suicidality. The American Journal of Bioethics, 20(10), 50-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2020.1806374

Liang, P. P., Wu, C., Morency, L.-P., & Salakhutdinov, R. (2021). Towards understanding and mitigating social biases in language models. International Conference on Machine Learning,

McBride, O., Murphy, J., Shevlin, M., Gibson‐Miller, J., Hartman, T. K., Hyland, P., Levita, L., Mason, L., Martinez, A. P., & McKay, R. (2021). Monitoring the psychological, social, and economic impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic in the population: Context, design and conduct of the longitudinal COVID‐19 psychological research consortium (C19PRC) study. International journal of methods in psychiatric research, 30(1), e1861. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/wxe2n

Meena, A., Dhir, S., & Sushil, S. (2023). Coopetition, strategy, and business performance in the era of digital transformation using a multi-method approach: Some research implications for strategy and operations management. International Journal of Production Economics, 109068. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2023.109068

Moorkens, J. (2022). Ethics and machine translation. Machine translation for everyone: Empowering users in the age of artificial intelligence, 18, 121.

Prates, M. O., Avelar, P. H., & Lamb, L. C. (2020). Assessing gender bias in machine translation: a case study with google translate. Neural Computing and Applications, 32, 6363-6381. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-019-04144-6

Ray, P. P. (2023a). Benchmarking, ethical alignment, and evaluation framework for conversational AI: Advancing responsible development of ChatGPT. BenchCouncil Transactions on Benchmarks, Standards and Evaluations, 3(3), 100136. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbench.2023.100136

Ray, P. P. (2023b). ChatGPT: A comprehensive review on background, applications, key challenges, bias, ethics, limitations and future scope. Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iotcps.2023.04.003

Riggs, R., Roldán, J. L., Real, J. C., & Felipe, C. M. (2023). Opening the black box of big data sustainable value creation: the mediating role of supply chain management capabilities and circular economy practices. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-03-2022-0098

Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Mitchell, R., & Gudergan, S. P. (2020). Partial least squares structural equation modeling in HRM research. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(12), 1617-1643. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1416655

Rivera-Trigueros, I. (2022). Machine translation systems and quality assessment: a systematic review. Language Resources and Evaluation, 56(2), 593-619. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10579-021-09537-5

Robinson, S. C. (2020). Trust, transparency, and openness: How inclusion of cultural values shapes Nordic national public policy strategies for artificial intelligence (AI). Technology in Society, 63, 101421. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101421

Roche, C., Wall, P., & Lewis, D. (2023). Ethics and diversity in artificial intelligence policies, strategies and initiatives. AI and Ethics, 3(4), 1095-1115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-022-00218-9

Sanderson, C., Douglas, D., Lu, Q., Schleiger, E., Whittle, J., Lacey, J., Newnham, G., Hajkowicz, S., Robinson, C., & Hansen, D. (2023). AI ethics principles in practice: Perspectives of designers and developers. IEEE Transactions on Technology and Society. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TTS.2023.3257303

Stahl, B. C., & Eke, D. (2024). The ethics of ChatGPT–Exploring the ethical issues of an emerging technology. International Journal of Information Management, 74, 102700. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2023.102700

Tomalin, M., Byrne, B., Concannon, S., Saunders, D., & Ullmann, S. (2021). The practical ethics of bias reduction in machine translation: Why domain adaptation is better than data debiasing. Ethics and Information Technology, 1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-021-09583-1

Vieira, L. N., O’Hagan, M., & O’Sullivan, C. (2021). Understanding the societal impacts of machine translation: a critical review of the literature on medical and legal use cases. Information, Communication & Society, 24(11), 1515-1532. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1776370

Vieira, L. N., O’Sullivan, C., Zhang, X., & O’Hagan, M. (2023). Machine translation in society: insights from UK users. Language Resources and Evaluation, 57(2), 893-914. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10579-022-09589-1