The Arqus European University Alliance announces the next session of the “9 Months, 9 Universities” series, organised within the framework of the Arqus Plurilingual and Intercultural Hub.

The session, entitled “Call Back the Dragoman: Theoretical, Philosophical and Historical Comments on the Language and Translation Narrative in the Age of AI”, will be broadcast live on YouTube on 26 February at 10:00 CET.

The lecture revisits the Translator’s Charter of 1963, which articulated a vision of the profession grounded in ethical commitment – “faithfulness”, though not “literalness” – combined with distinctive multilingual expertise and precision in transferring texts across languages. This professional narrative aligned with the development of twentieth-century technocracy and was reinforced by the rapid institutionalisation of translation studies at European universities.

Today, the landscape of digital communication has changed fundamentally. Large Language Models and AI-driven systems increasingly generate outputs comparable to expert work, extending access beyond the professional translator community. As technological development accelerates, it is no longer self-evident that human translation will, in all contexts, remain the preferred solution.

In this evolving context, the expertise of translators and language professionals is being redefined. Beyond accuracy and technical control, the profession is beginning to foreground its capacity to navigate uncertainty – a competence central to the responsible and critical use of language models and AI systems.

The session also proposes a broader conceptual shift: to reconsider translation beyond narrowly risk-averse and institutionally grounded frameworks, and to re-engage with dimensions of risk, privacy, rupture and even “betrayal” that are intrinsic to language and intercultural mediation.

Looking ahead, the future narrative of translation may depend on reaffirming a broad conception of translating, alongside renewed attention to non-professional and literary practices. It may also require reclaiming the legacy of the dragoman, placing trust – rather than “quality” alone – at the centre of language mediation in the age of artificial intelligence. Further information and the livestream link are available here.