The Promise and Pitfalls of AI Technology in Bridging Digital Language Divide: Insights from Machine Translation on Wikipedia

Abstract

Machine translation technologies have the potential to bridge knowledge gaps across languages, promoting more inclusive access to information regardless of native languages. This study examines the impact of integrating Google Translate into Wikipedia's Content Translation system in January 2019. Employing a natural experiment design and difference-in-differences strategy, we analyze how this translation technology shock influenced the dynamics of content production and accessibility on Wikipedia across over a hundred languages. We find that this technology integration lead to a 149% increase in content production through translation, driven by existing editors become more productive as well as an expansion of the editor base. Moreover, we observe that machine translation enhances the propagation of biographical and geographical information, helping to close these knowledge gaps in the multilingual context. However, our findings also underscore the need for continued efforts to mitigate the preexisting systemic barriers. Our study contributes to our knowledge on the evolving role of artificial intelligence in shaping knowledge dissemination through enhanced language translation capabilities.

Keywords: machine translation, artificial intelligence, digital language divide, multilingual environment, peer production platform