Let's write an IELTS essay #4 In recent decades, technology has begun to eliminate the need for several professions. Nevertheless, the question whether it is possible to utilize technology to translate text and speech to another language as accurate as human translators has recently sparked some heated controversy. While some linguists argue that artificial intelligence (AI) is not capable of learning a language like humans do, some AI experts claim that AI is much more capable than a human mind, and machine translation (MT) is just a simple task compared to the tasks for which artificial intelligence will soon be used. In this essay, I will argue that MT will be if not more, as accurate as human translation, and it will take the place of human translation in the near future. To begin with, large-scale technology companies such as Google and Microsoft believe that MT will someday be as accurate as human translation, and they invest greatly in research and development of MT technology. Those tech companies develop products, which will provide an instant translation at a minimal cost. The technology behind those products is machine learning, and machine learning algorithms get better as they have more input and output samples. Therefore, I think it is just a matter of time for MT to be as accurate as human translation. On the other hand, there is a good number of people who argue that translation is an artistic work, and MT will never be able to translate literary works. Reason for this is that translation of literary works sometimes requires adaptation of the text, as literature by its nature comprises cultural elements. Those cultural elements, even if accurately translated, will not be understandable for those who are not familiar with the culture. A possible solution could be recognition of translation of literary works as a type of art, that way it could be ensured that it would not be evaluated as a shortcoming of MT. To conclude, at the first glance, there seem to be some shortcomings of MT, and some may argue that MT will never be as accurate or as beautiful as human translation. However, If you exclude the translation of literary works and recognize that type of translation as a type of art, considering the scales of research and development practices of tech companies and progress so far, it is clear that mankind will soon witness perfect machine translations.