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With the support of the Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission, the UNESCO Chair in Translating Cultures at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) announces a call for contributions to an edited volume on Translating Cultures and Artificial Intelligence. Organized by the Chair’s Translating Cultures Lab (TCL), this edited volume will reconceptualize, redefine, and expand the current conversations on translating cultures in the context of contemporary technological developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The Chair takes a global rather than Eurocentric view of translating cultures, building on the historical Arab experiences of South-South translation in the multicultural societies of late antiquity and the high medieval eras. Seeking to reimagine the epistemological turn that debates around translating cultures have taken in the twenty-first century, the Chair embraces the field’s growing emphasis on theoretical approaches and geo-linguistic diversity. Such theoretical approaches reflect broader debates in the global humanities and frame the translation of cultures as a complex process involving the translation, transmission, cross-cultural exchange, and dissemination of knowledge. Accordingly, the Chair encourages theoretical discussions that explore and problematize cultural and interdisciplinary discontinuities as well as the untranslatable in-between.

This call for papers is specifically focused on one of the emerging technê of translation, inviting submissions that explore the role of AI in translating cultures. Building on a broad theoretical spectrum, our investigation is grounded in the rich scholarly tradition of translation studies, emphasizing the “cultural turn” as articulated by Bassnett and Lefevere and further elaborated upon by David Katan’s work on cultural mediation. These foundational contributions provide a critical lens through which to examine the interplay between translation and culture. Furthermore, we draw on the recent theoretical interventions of scholars such as Barbara Cassin, Emily Apter, Dilip Menon, Tejaswini Niranjana, and Lawrence Venuti, whose rigorous interrogations of translation have illuminated its role in constructing, deconstructing, and contesting the epistemological frameworks of textual and cultural frameworks. We also draw upon critical concepts from postcolonial studies such as Gayatri Spivak's subaltern and Homi Bhabha's theorization of "third space" and hybridity, as well as relevant explorations advanced by Ananya Jahanara Kabir and Deanne Williams, which facilitate a nuanced critique of the potential risks of AI in weakening the specificity and agency of cross-cultural encounters. By engaging with these diverse theoretical perspectives, this call seeks to critically examine how AI-mediated translation and the dissemination of inter-cultural information both extend and challenge existing paradigms in the field.

In contrast, we investigate the implications of whether AI can be envisioned as capable of understanding and mediating between cultures. This presupposition raises prospects for AI’s potential to act as a global cultural mediator, bridging divides in unprecedented ways. However, it also raises profound questions: How can AI be ethically developed and deployed to ensure that it does not perpetuate or amplify existing power imbalances and inequalities? How can we safeguard against the potential for AI to homogenize cultures and erase their unique voices?

Theorizing Translating Cultures in the Digital Age

• How can we reconceptualize translating cultures in the digital age, given that translation and culture are evolving into a dynamic, decentralized, and algorithmically mediated phenomenon. Further, what new interpretive strategies are needed to navigate AI’s fluid, data-driven formulations?

Ethics and the Technological Turn in Translation Studies

• Given the ethical imperative, what considerations emerge as AI-driven translation systems become capable of not simply translating, but also interpreting and adapting content to different intracultural contexts?
• To what extent can AI grasp the diversity and complexity of culture, particularly in the context of translating cultures? Furthermore, how might the integration of AI as both a translator and cultural mediator reconfigure the power dynamics that currently exist within the global circulation of knowledge and cultural construction?
• What role does AI-based machine translation play in shaping the power dynamics between dominant and minority or minoritized languages, and does it perpetuate cultural biases or mitigate linguistic homogenization, particularly in relation to the Arabic language?
• How can AI be reconceptualized as a transformative tool to dismantle embedded biases, disrupt hegemonic narratives, and amplify diverse cultural and linguistic perspectives, thereby fostering more equitable and inclusive systems? What theoretical and practical interventions are necessary to critically engage with region-specific large language models, such as the Arabic AI chat models “ALLaM,” “Falcon,” and others, to better understand their role in challenging dominant normative frameworks and advancing epistemic diversity?

Interdisciplinary Discussions of AI, Agency, Authorship, Translation, and the Human-Machine Interface

• How can interdisciplinary inquiry—spanning fields such as computer science, linguistics, philosophy, the humanities, social sciences, religion, and law—illuminate the intricate dynamics between humans and increasingly advanced AI systems, particularly in relation to agency, authorship, interpretation, and the human-machine interface? More specifically, how does the transition from utilizing passive machines to actively engaging with AI systems transform our understanding of these fundamental concepts, and what are the wider implications for human identity, culture, and the ways in which societies are structured and function?

Advancements in AI and the Future of Human Translators

• How can the journey from specialized AI to general AI, which involves encoding and translating aspects of human culture, responsibly reflect not only technological progress but also an expanded engagement with the profound philosophical and ethical challenges of translating cultures in the digital age, particularly in ensuring that diverse cultural values and identities are preserved and respected rather than homogenized or misrepresented?
• How do recent advancements in generative AI/LLM and, specifically, large language models redefine the boundaries of machine translation, and how might these advancements challenge traditional approaches in natural language processing?

By exploring these theoretical frameworks and critically examining the implications of AI in translating cultures, the chapters selected for this edited volume will foster a more profound understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly developing AI technologies across diverse disciplines, including translation studies, linguistics, philosophy, the humanities, social sciences, and religion. We also welcome papers that investigate how AI can expand the theoretical horizons of translation technology while simultaneously redefining its theoretical and ethical dimensions.

All materials should be submitted to KFCRIS via its online submission system. Information on how to set up an account can be found below. Submissions should be in English and should include the following information:

• Author’s CV.
• Abstract or brief description of the chapter under consideration, including a clear indication as to how it addresses one or more of the themes/research questions outlined above (300-400 words).