Falcom’s Toshihiro Kondo Comments on Kai no Kiseki AI Translation

Toshihiro Kondo has shared his thoughts on the usage of AI translation for game development. 4Gamer interviewed the Nihon Falcom president following the demonstration of the AI quote translator ELLA on The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki at Tokyo Game Show 2024. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

The demonstration had ELLA quickly translate specific character quotes that Nihon Falcom had selected from Japanese to English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese. In addition, the AI also attempted double translations from the English quotes back to Japanese. Digital Hearts has since published a disclaimer that ELLA's translations were only used for a technology demonstration at TGS 2024 and not in the actual game localizations for Kai no Kiseki.

In the new interview, Toshihiro Kondo stated his belief that AI translation will help speed up the process of translating games into many languages, even though humans still need to make the final adjustments and approvals. However, he also acknowledged the resistance against AI translation related to the concern of the loss of jobs for humans. Besides the Luddite movement in 19th-century England, Kondo also reminisced about his childhood experiences in Thailand, where he heard complaints about local people losing their jobs due to the technological gadgets the Japanese had brought to the country.

In addition, Kondo acknowledged the concerns against AI from staff members in other Falcom divisions—especially the designers, whose illustrations could be used for AI learning. However, Kondo also wants to envision a future where new technology can be used without rejecting humans or AI.

The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki -Farewell, O Zemuria- is readily available for PlayStation 5 and 4 in Japan and East Asia.

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