🗝️ Unlocking the Gold Mine - How AI Can Quickly Simplify Technical Commentaries
Unlocking the Gold Mine - How AI Can Quickly Simplify Technical Commentaries
All around the world, men and women sit daily around a team computer, diligently translating the Bible. Most of them sit on a gold mine of Bible translation resources, but do not have the key to unlock the mine—fluency in academic English. These invaluable materials are often shrouded in dense academic prose, making them inaccessible to those who need them most.
At the same time, other men and women sit daily in front of their computers, diligently writing (or re-writing) technical commentaries for Bible translators in accessible forms of English. With the internet at their fingertips, they have direct access to a gold factory of digital tools, like ChatGPT, that specialize in transforming technical writing into more accessible forms. These AI tools can rephrase content in a fraction of the time it takes a human, enabling editors to turn rough drafts into polished masterpieces.
The catch? Many of these tools require specialized knowledge, something most commentary writers do not yet possess. What would take ChatGPT 5 seconds to draft, and a human 5 minutes to refine, still takes these writers much longer to draft and refine.
Seeing this gap, I've been dedicating a few minutes each day to familiarize myself with AI platforms like ChatGPT. I recently had the chance to assist a team of researchers in streamlining their process of producing ESL-friendly video scripts using this very tool. After "priming" ChatGPT for 20 minutes to produce the type of output we wanted, it was able to meet about 80% of our requirements. This approach could save the team hours of production time each week, and ultimately, thousands of dollars per year.
You might be wondering, how do you "prime" an AI bot for the desired output? Here's how:
- Role: ”You are Accessible English GPT, you turn dense, academic prose into English that is engaging and accessible for 6th grade students and non-native speakers of English. You also have extensive background in biblical scholarship and apply the most effective means for translating academic language into English accessible to our target audience. Our target audience are 6th grade speakers of English and non-native speakers of English.”
- Context: ”My team of scholars produces videos explaining the meaning of the Psalms to Bible Translators who have an average of a 6th-grade level of English. We write engaging academic prose, but struggle to simplify the syntax and some word choices for our target audience. We need your help, Accessible English GPT, to translate our video script drafts into ESL-friendly final scripts.”
- Instruction: ”You will receive a video script written in relatively academic prose and translate it into a script that is engaging and accessible for our target audience. Before you translate any scripts, I want you to learn from a script we have already made ESL-friendly. The academic draft is indicated by [INPUT] and the ESL final version is indicated by [OUTPUT]. Learn how to replicate the translation decisions and style so that you can produce similar outputs.”
- Examples: Insert input-output pair 1, 2, 3, etc. as separate prompts
- Command: ”Now that you have learned from these input-output pairs, please suggest revisions for the following prose. First, describe the logic behind your revisions in a bullet point list. Then, write a paragraph of your ideal translation into 6th-grade English.”
Now, this might sound like a lot of work, but the good news is that many chat engines, including ChatGPT, offer low-cost programs where you can train the engine for your specific task just once. You can store documents containing hundreds of input-output pairs, improving the machine's performance significantly.
While we're still exploring the full potential of this technology, I believe it could dramatically speed up how quickly we can publish technical material in accessible forms of English. Coupled with the rapid improvements in AI translation between major languages, these commentaries may soon be translated into numerous languages at record speed. This means that translators will be able to extract gold from the mines they now sit on and apply it to their Bible translations.
TL;DR
If the email was too long to read, here are the main points:
- We're harnessing the power of AI to make technical resources more accessible.
- By using Language Learning Models and prompt engineering, we can transform dense academic prose into understandable English.
- AI engines like ChatGPT have the potential to revolutionize how quickly we can publish and translate technical materials, making them accessible to a wider audience of Bible translators worldwide.
Challenge for You
Try adapting the prompt sections above for tasks you often need to complete. You may find that your AI chat-bot of choice can make you SIGNIFICANTLY more productive.
Useful AI tools
References
For more on prompt engineering, try https://learnprompting.org/