Davitti, E., Korybski, T., and Braun, S. (Eds.). (2025). The Routledge Handbook of Interpreting, Technology and AI (1st ed.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003053248 (pp.448)

Edited by Claudio Fantinuoli, Interpreting and Technology, the first book aiming to capture advances in digitalization of interpreting, appeared in 2018. It was followed by The Role of Technology in Conference Interpreter Training edited by María Dolores Rodríguez Melchor, Ildikó Horváth, and Kate Ferguson (2020), and Interpreting Technologies-Current and Future Trends edited by Gloria Corpas Pastor and Bart Defrancq (2023). We are now witnessing three main technological trends that have caused, and will continue to cause, paradigmatic shifts in interpreting, namely, distance interpreting, augmented interpreting, and machine interpreting. It is against this background that the handbook under review is seeing the light of day. According to the editors, it aims at “providing a comprehensive overview of the evolution, application, and study of interpreting and technology in the AI era, covering various technologies regularly encountered in the field, the ways in which they have been integrated into a variety of settings and workflows, as well as the issues arising as a result of this integration” (p. 1).

Part I (Technology-enabled interpreting) is the longest part of the handbook, and the chapters offer a wealth of information about the role of technology in the emergence of new forms and modalities of interpreting, challenges and opportunities resulting from this evolving phenomenon, as well as new avenues of research. Chapter 1 by Raquel Lázaro Gutiérrez overviews history and evolution of telephone interpreting, being the oldest form of remote interpreting dating back to the 1950s, under the impact of distance interpreting and multimodality paradigm, and highlights lack of visual context and coordination of talk as its main challenges. Chapter 2 by Sabine Braun delves into origins, different configurations, and settings of video-mediated interpreting and discusses relevant research topics and future directions. Agnieszka Chmiel and Nicoletta Spinolo, in Chapter 3, engagingly discuss remote simultaneous interpreting (RSI) both as a challenge and an opportunity, critical issues such as sound quality and cognitive load, as well as current and future trends such as augmentation, machine interpreting (post-editing) and AI. In Chapter 4, Camilla Warnicke critically discusses video relay service as a form of interpreting to the benefit of deaf people, and Chapter 5 by Tomasz Korybski explores the history and development of understudied portable interpreting equipment both for practice and training. A thorough overview of technology-enabled consecutive interpreting and relevant research is at the core of Chapter 6 by Cihan Ünlü, and concluding this part is Chapter 7 by Francesco Saina on tablet interpreting both in professional practice, interpreter training, and as an under-explored area of research.

Part II (Technology and interpreter training) does not offer a balanced perspective as it does not address technology use in interpreter training as represented in diverse pedagogical models (e.g. blended learning), virtual learning environments (e.g. interpreting in Virtual Reality Project), and pedagogical techniques in technology-aided interpreter training (e.g. role play). Instead, it limits itself to three trends that are the product of the impact of digitalization on the interpreting profession. This part may not offer information interpreter trainers are looking for, but the chapters are engaging and insightful for practitioners, researchers, and students. Bianca Prandi, as author of Chapter 8, gives an overview of research into computer-assisted interpreting (CAI) tools and their effect on interpreters and interpreting. While Prandi rightly emphasizes the potential of CAI tools to offer insights into interpreting, she advocates for their inclusion in training curricula. Marc Orlando has penned Chapter 9 on the state-of-the-art in digital pen technology for interpreter training. Amalia Amato, Mariachiara Russo, Gabriele Carioli and Nicoletta Spinolo have devoted Chapter 10 to computer-assisted interpreter training (CAIT) tools for training conference Interpreters. While the authors in this chapter highlight integration of CAIT with AI as a new paradigm and support the inclusion of information literacy, media literacy, and information and communication technology literacy (p. 172) in training curricula, unfortunately, their list of recommended soft skills leaves out the concept of critical AI literacy. 

With only two chapters, Part III (Technology for (semi-)automating interpreting workflows) is the shortest part of the handbook devoted to (semi-)automation of interpreting practices as an underexplored avenue of research. With their forward-thinking analysis, the chapters are instrumental in our understanding of the current impact and future directions of these emerging practices. Furthermore, readers will find this part very useful in their reflecting on where human interpreting might stand amid advances in AI and big data. Chapter 11 by Elena Davitti explores hybrid live speech-to-text (STT) practices defined by immediacy, multimodality, and augmentation, which increases accessibility and inclusiveness. Chapter 12 by Claudio Fantinuoli is an important contribution on machine interpreting as a form of real-time speech-to-speech translation to remove language barriers and increase accessibility and inclusivity. Moving from the origins and approaches of machine interpreting to its central challenges, Fantinuoli's analysis goes beyond evaluation and quality issues to thoughtfully explore ethical aspects and future directions.

Although the use of technology-enabled and AI-enhanced interpreting is observed in other understudied settings, including educational environments (left out in this handbook), Part IV (Technology in professional interpreting settings) maps out the use, challenges, risks and rewards of technology in four high-stakes interpreting settings, and will be a rewarding read for professional interpreters, interpreting students and researchers. In Chapter 13, Kilian G. Seeber explores the origins and evolution of technology in conference settings, and presents a comprehensive overview of different technologies in simultaneous and consecutive conference interpreting. Chapter 14 by Esther de Boe is an engaging contribution on technology in healthcare settings. She discusses a range of critical issues, including technology-mediated healthcare, its associated challenges and risks, and prevalent trends aimed to augmenting or replacing interpreters. She compellingly calls for interdisciplinary research, particularly into the understudied impact on patients and public health, and for greater dialogue between medical and interpreting studies. Chapter 15 by Jérôme Devaux explores the effect of technology on legal interpreting, with a focus on pros and cons of distance interpreting and other technologies for interpreter-mediated legal interaction. Chapter 16 by Diana Singureanu and Sabine Braun concludes Part IV by exploring the current status, challenges, guidelines and best practices for use of technology in immigration, asylum, and refugee settings.

When it comes to Part V (Current issues and debates), its value lies in the fact that the chapters go beyond issues of multilingual accessibility and inclusivity, and draw the reader's attention to some of the critical, yet understudied, dimensions of interpreting in light of its interaction with technology and AI. Elena Davitti, Tomasz Korybski, Constantin Orăsan and Sabine Braun have penned Chapter 17 on quality-related aspects of interpreting, particularly when interpreting is digitalized. While the authors in this chapter remain open-minded to the use of AI-driven technologies in interpreting assessment, they are right in being critical of automated assessment and calling for research into the balanced hybrid approaches to quality assessment. Chapter 18 by Deborah Giustini is an intriguing theoretical discussion of ethical aspects of CAI tools, distance interpreting and machine interpreting. She explores some important emerging issues that have rarely been addressed in interpreting research, from ethics and technology in training curricula to social responsibility, and to the concept of critical AI literacy. In Chapter 19, Christopher D. Mellinger focuses on the understudied complex relationship between technology and interpreter cognition and expands the discussion of open questions related to interpreting technologies and cognition. Chapter 20 by Verónica Pérez Guarnieri and Haris N. Ghinos is an overview of the evolution and significance of standardization of interpreting as a specialized profession in the realm of multilingual communication. In Chapter 21, Anja Rütten brings up the issue of the multi-phase impact of technology on different aspects of interpreters' workflow and working models, particularly in conference settings. And Chapter 22 by Wojciech Figiel concludes the handbook by bringing to the fore digitalization of interpreting, with a special focus on the underexplored ergonomics and accessibility of technological tools designed for conference interpreters. 

Overall, this handbook, holding a mirror to academic and industrial perspectives, comprehensively covers evolution and use of technology in different interpreting environments, showcases the state-of-the-art in research into digitalization of interpreting, and immerses the reader in some of the key topics emerging from the intersection of interpreting with technology and AI. However, the critical and often-overlooked gender dimensions of the interpreting, technology and AI triangle are conspicuously absent from this handbook, with the reader left directionless in that trajectory, and, to some readers, particularly those who read the full handbook, the excessive overlap of some of the chapters with each other may seem unattractive. A case in point is digital pen technology as the object of Chapter 9, which need not have been addressed in detail in Chapters 6 and 13. Nonetheless, it is an indispensable and timely contribution to the field and a must-read for interpreting researchers and students, and professional interpreters, as they are navigating the uncharted waters of digitalized interpreting. The distinctive contribution of this handbook is that it pushes the frontiers of interpreting, transcends conventional discussions and debates, and forges a bold critical lens on the field of interpreting facing emerging realities in the age of AI.

Vorya Dastyar

Independent Scholar of Interpreting, Iran

voryadastyar@yahoo.com