OpenAI has rolled out chatgpt.com/translate - and it's a strange release.
The problem of text translation seems to have been long solved and "captured" by Google Translate. Even the interface looks the same - two fields, language on the left, language on the right.
It's clear that there are features like "translate academically" or "explain like a child" - but still.
Why? Perhaps the bet is that LLM translates "meaning" rather than "words" - handling context, idioms, and slang better. But is that enough to switch people from their habits?
It will be interesting to look at the metrics in a couple of months.
