AI and Engineering: balancing the benefits and risks of AI-powered design | TRSB Inc.

There’s a revolution going on, and engineering is a big beneficiary. Artificial intelligence (AI) is driving innovation in manufacturing processes, computer vision, building management, urban design, energy efficiency, and more.

• Arup, a global sustainable development consultancy, uses AI to monitor the structural integrity of buildings and bridges in real time. This boosts safety while cutting manual inspection costs.
• Energy powerhouse Siemens uses AI to analyze millions of design possibilities and identify the most efficient and cost-effective solutions. Design cycles are now faster and systems are more energy efficient.
• Infrastructure consulting firm AECOM does the same thing with environmental data on large projects, taking the guesswork out of impact assessment.
• For the consulting engineers at Buro Happold, the challenge has been to determine how new developments will impact traffic, energy consumption, and air quality. AI-driven simulations have ushered in an era of smart city planning.

It all sounds great. After all, when you’re designing an aircraft or a car or a manufacturing process, it’s reassuring to know you can analyze the many thousands of variables that can affect the final outcome. But there are risks.

• Garbage in, garbage out. Outdated, incomplete, or improperly cleaned data can lead to misleading results, or may not adequately equip the algorithm to generalize about unforeseen events, such as natural disasters or catastrophic system failure.
• Cyberattacks are a real risk, particularly in sensitive fields. Somebody somewhere may want the dam you’re designing to fail.
• There may also be issues of trust. How did the algorithm reach its conclusions? Can the output be used unquestioningly in critical engineering applications?
• And there are other risks: Do the conclusions take health and safety concerns into account? Are they scalable without introducing new risks? Do they adhere to regulatory requirements? Will engineers rely too much on them, particularly if they believe that AI is more accurate than it actually is?

Organizations need robust risk management strategies, including thorough testing in real-world scenarios, regular audits of AI systems, clear lines of accountability, and training programs for engineers on how to interact with AI tools.

The same benefits and safeguards apply in translation

Big engineering outfits often have big translation requirements, and they can reap the benefits there too if they take the right approach. In fact, translation is one of the fields where AI advances in productivity and quality have been the greatest. The key is combining AI and human expertise.

Data is paramount

At TRSB, we use the most advanced neural translation engines available and train them on decades of professional translations in engineering contexts. This ensures your core data is not compromised by substandard translations. We also work with translation memory tools that retrieve and use your in-house vocabulary.

A higher level of accuracy

Huge databases work in tandem to produce an AI-powered first draft already at an advanced level of accuracy.

We then mitigate risks, just like in engineering, by having subject matter experts on our translation team check the output line by line. If there is a doubt about a technical term, or a reference to a more obscure point, our professional terminologists research the matter to confirm meanings and terminology. All of this work is performed in a highly secure IT environment, protected from attack and away from prying eyes.

Backup in other technical areas

But as you know, not all texts deal strictly with engineering, even at engineering firms. As Canada’s translation leader, TRSB has teams of translators in other areas, such as legal or marketing, to provide ad hoc support. Our multilingual division is also available if you have multiple language requirements. They work with hundreds of prevetted linguists around the world in all major languages.

Speed, accuracy, savings

We suggest a meeting so that we can discuss your needs and develop a plan for delivering speed, accuracy, and savings powered by AI and human expertise.