A brief word from us before you read: The Word for the World is dedicated to ending Bible poverty by empowering indigenous communities to lead their own Bible translation projects. Our mission is to ensure that everyone can experience the power of God’s Word in their own heart language. If you share our vision of a world where every nation and tongue has access to the Bible, we invite you to support this mission through your prayers and giving.

AI Bible Translation - A New Silent Partner

The air conditioning unit hums gently; one translator bats away a hungry mosquito as he takes his first look at the long-awaited translation of Luke’s gospel. Around the table, his colleagues begin their careful checks of the text, quietly tapping out grammatical edits on their keyboards, ensuring faithful translation.

The AI has done its job – the rough first draft is in the translator’s hands - and now the real work begins.

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In our November blog post, we asked the question that many Christians are currently asking: is AI in Bible translation a monster, or a marvel?

We revealed our use of AI, or as we call our newly created in-house programme, AiBT: Artificial intelligence immersed Bible Translation, a new tool that dramatically reduces indigenous Bible translators’ time.

But with so many concerns around AI, is this a wise move? Can we trust its output? Is it Biblical to be using such technology?

AiBT: Our Low-level Player

Here at The Word for the World, we support indigenous-led Bible translation. We do not translate here in the West and then ship Bibles to people groups around the world – our mission framework centres on investing in communities and people first. That is why we train people in Bible translation in their own communities, providing the tools they need, including helping them build the skills, knowledge and attitudes that are crucial for Bible translation.

AiBT sits firmly within our order of priority – it is first and foremost a resource placed in the hands of communities, not a process that bypasses them, or makes them obsolete. Indigenous translators remain our key players, at the heart of everything we do.

That’s why we use AiBT to produce an initial draft of the Bible text only. Initial and ongoing testing shows that an AI-produced first draft is generated more quickly and more accurately than the translators producing it themselves.

“In order to do a manual draft translation, each verse needs to be translated individually, which is very time consuming. But when AI came, our accuracy improved our method by standardising spelling and doing away with the process of ﬁxing the mistakes we’d make with a manual draft. AI provides the exact words that we search for. I have personally noticed our translations have improved significantly.” - An indigenous Bible translator

Keeping People at the Heart of Everything we Do

Our translator’s time is valuable. They are doing God’s work and are part of his Great Commission.

We estimate that our blended approach using AiBT currently streamlines our translator’s time by 22%. This means that their time is no longer being taken up with labouring over first-draft mechanics which take up one third of their time.

Instead, they are free to ask the deeper questions: does this feel true? Does this sound like us? Does this carry the weight of what is being said by the original writer? They are freed up to focus on refining meaning, deepening community engagement, and ensuring faithful Scripture

And despite this new tool being utilised, all the same human review systems used in written and oral Bible translation still apply — team checks, committee review, and exegetical checks by a Bible consultant. As our UK Director Steve Lancaster said,
*"AiBT does not replace the translator; nor do we want it to, and nor will we allow it to."*— TWFTW (twftw.org.uk)
By handling the time-consuming labour of first drafts, AiBT clears the way for what no machine can do: the lived, embodied, Spirit-guided work of communities translating God's Word into their heart language.

Community Ownership

It’s always easy to spot a foreign accent, isn’t it? It can alienate and cause misunderstanding. We often work with remote communities and small local churches, and so we know the importance of clear, understandable communication that builds bridges and not walls.

That is why AiBT has been specifically engineered to protect and encourage community ownership, being used to amplify the local voice rather than imposing a foreign one. It has been built to learn from us, not the other way around, learning each individual translation team’s style and decisions – as Damian Daspit described it, ‘a model of people.’ (https://wycliffe.net/2025/05/20/thats-what-good-tools-do/)

Referring to the AI system being used by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Damian Daspit said:

"What we're trying to do with these models is build a model of the translation team… a model of people… of [their] decisions and style, the way that the team would translate the Bible… at the heart of the translation process and that draft, it's the team. It's the people in it."— Damian Daspit, SIL Global (via Wycliffe Global Alliance)

AiBT results not only in better quality, faster translations of Bibles into local heart languages, but increased community engagement. This is key because, as the Biblical Archaeology Society pointed out, “If the group for whom a translation is intended does not feel connected to it, they may never use it.” (https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/artificial-intelligence-and-bible-translation/)

AiBT reflects the decisions and style of individual communities, rather than manufacturing its own. It is also a safe tool for our translators who may be working in sensitive or dangerous environments where Bible translation is restricted or forbidden, as it can be used without internet connection and only requires low level hardware.

We want to encourage community ownership of AiBT and for their resulting translations to be embraced by more people as they hear God speaking in an accent they fully understand.

"AiBT… upholds core Bible translation values such as natural translation, translator control, and community ownership."— TWFTW (www.twftw.org.uk)

Our Ongoing Mission

AiBT is hugely assisting our work, there can be no denying that - but there is much more work still to be done. With more than 3000 languages still needing translations, innovation alone cannot help bring God’s Word to every people group of the world. We need people who are willing to give financially to help support and equip our indigenous translators with all the resources they need to carry out their work.

People are not incidental to AI, and they are not incidental to Bible translation. We need God’s people to support God’s work and to honour the spiritual calling of our indigenous translation teams so that God’s Word can flow from local churches to His local people.

“Technology affords us the ability to connect the Body. In Bible translation today — and for the first time in history — we see the Body of Christ being joined together as never before. And once the Body is connected, God brings life.” - Shawn Ring, founder and president of Avodah (https://religionunplugged.com/news/2025/11/12/how-artificial-intelligence-is-transforming-bible-translation)

‘In Our Generation’

There is a feeling amongst Bible translation agencies that AI is innovation that could pave the way to fulfil the Great Commission sooner than ever imagined.

"This is the first generation that can look and say, 'This could happen during our lifetime.' And I mean, it's an incredible day to be part of what God's doing around the world." (https://cbn.com/news/world/god-using-it-ai-expediting-bible-translation-less-1000-languages-now-need-translating)

So much is changing in our world with this technical revolution. What is your role in it all?

We are asking every reader if you could be part of this exciting shift in Bible translation, whether by praying, giving or sharing.

The technology is remarkable; the people it serves are more so. The Word changes the world, but it travels through human hands. Could you employ yours for God’s Kingdom today?

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 4 verse 11

We work in close partnership with the Seed Company, who work to accelerate Bible translation. View their endorsement of AiBT here.