Opinion | Penis, sperm, vagina: as far as ChatGPT is concerned, those words don’t belong in a novel

Curious about the possibilities of ChatGPT, I wanted my new mafia novel Woman of honor also translate into English, Italian and German. The possibilities of the new AI translation machine are of course promising: for a small amount you, as a relatively unknown author, can also share your story with other readers. But translating my texts has also taught me that censorship is lurking at ChatGPT.

The translation itself is relatively simple. For an additional monthly fee of more than 20 euros you can put ChatGPT 4.0, the better version of the program, to work. It is a time-consuming job, because after about five hundred words per translation job the machine starts to malfunction and after about forty jobs the computer comes to a temporary standstill due to heavy consumption.

The real problems arise when the texts describe sex and violence and ChatGPT refuses to complete the translation. The AI ​​machine has a number of flavors. If cocaine or sex is described, the user will receive a warning that the text may violate OpenAI’s user policy. The text changes color from black to red but is still readable and usable. This variant also comes into the picture with weapons or shootings.

In the case of sexual violence – an important theme – ChatGPT systematically refuses to translate

If the texts are even worse – in my story two main characters were raped in their youth – the machine goes into overdrive and refuses to translate the text. For what ChatGPT considers the worst passages, the program even deletes the Dutch version – as if the machine is protecting itself and no longer wants to come into contact with this text. Since the AI ​​software is a self-learning system and feeds on online texts, a vicious circle is created in which unpleasant texts become less and less acceptable.

Erased

The wonderful thing about ChatGPT is that as a user you can talk back and criticize the translations provided. You will then often be offered an apology and sometimes the program will make a new attempt. But when it comes to sexual violence – an important theme to write about as an author – ChatGPT systematically refuses to provide a translation. The very phrase that the main character was ‘raped’ in her youth is erased.

In an explanation, the AI ​​says that although it takes cultural differences into account, it must also adhere to some laws and basic principles. In some ways it is still understandable that a company tries to filter child abuse and discrimination, although freedom should come first in art. But even if you indicate that it concerns a novel text, and that different norms apply in Europe than in, for example, the United States, sexual violence does not pass inspection in the Italian and German translation.

ChatGPT’s approach is very sneaky if a translation follows, but the sharp edges of the text are filed off. For example, the machine changed an explicit, somewhat crude sex scene with penis, sperm and vagina into a more sweet-toned version with terms like making love. Even if a translation follows, you must pay close attention to whether the text is truthful.

There is an enormous danger in this unsolicited rewriting in particular. Given the speed of developments, it is conceivable that in the near future books and texts will automatically be offered as translated versions on websites. The reader then no longer sees the real version, but the censored version.

We will have to be careful that the more prudish American norms do not prevail worldwide. Just last week it emerged that more books were banned from libraries in the US last year because they were said to be undesirable. With automatic screening, this only threatens to increase and your freedom as an artist will be further restricted. While describing injustice and sexual violence can help tackle these abuses.

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