The Future of Virtual Sign Language Interpreting in the Era of AI: Reskinning, Not Replacing
Temas
Detalles
Most of the chatter about AI and sign language interpreting these days is about replacement. People love to imagine a sleek, automated future where some soulless algorithm listens, translates, and spits out a perfect video of a signing avatar with the emotional range of a toaster. Meanwhile, Deaf people sit there thinking, “That’s great, but it can’t even handle captions without butchering half my sentence.”
Here’s the thing, AI doesn’t have to replace sign language interpreters. It can actually help them. And it can help Deaf clients too, who are often stuck crossing their fingers every time they connect to a Video Relay Service (VRS), hoping they get an sign language interpreter who actually understands them. Anyone who’s Deaf knows that roulette: sometimes you get a brilliant sign language interpreter who’s fluent, culturally sharp, and reads your signing like poetry. Other times you get one who somehow manages to turn, “I’m closing on my house this week” into “I’m living in a house closing soon.” That’s not access. That’s trauma in real time.