Are AI agents the new machine translation frontier? Challenges and opportunities of single- and multi-agent systems for multilingual digital communication

Vicent Briva-Iglesias


Abstract
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has introduced AI agents as a disruptive paradigm across various industries, yet their application in machine translation (MT) remains underexplored. This paper describes and analyses the potential of single- and multi-agent systems for MT, reflecting on how they could enhance multilingual digital communication. While single-agent systems are well-suited for simpler translation tasks, multi-agent systems, which involve multiple specialized AI agents collaborating in a structured manner, may offer a promising solution for complex scenarios requiring high accuracy, domain-specific knowledge, and contextual awareness. To demonstrate the feasibility of multi-agent workflows in MT, we are conducting a pilot study in legal MT. The study employs a multi-agent system involving four specialized AI agents for (i) translation, (ii) adequacy review, (iii) fluency review, and (iv) final editing. Our findings suggest that multi-agent systems may have the potential to significantly improve domain-adaptability and contextual awareness, with comparable translation quality to traditional MT or single-agent systems. This paper also sets the stage for future research into multi-agent applications in MT, integration into professional translation workflows, and shares a demo of the system analyzed in the paper.
Anthology ID:
2025.mtsummit-1.28
Volume:
Proceedings of Machine Translation Summit XX: Volume 1
Month:
June
Year:
2025
Address:
Geneva, Switzerland
Editors:
Pierrette Bouillon, Johanna Gerlach, Sabrina Girletti, Lise Volkart, Raphael Rubino, Rico Sennrich, Ana C. Farinha, Marco Gaido, Joke Daems, Dorothy Kenny, Helena Moniz, Sara Szoc
Venue:
MTSummit
SIG:
Publisher:
European Association for Machine Translation
Note:
Pages:
365–377
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2025.mtsummit-1.28/
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Vicent Briva-Iglesias. 2025. Are AI agents the new machine translation frontier? Challenges and opportunities of single- and multi-agent systems for multilingual digital communication. In Proceedings of Machine Translation Summit XX: Volume 1, pages 365–377, Geneva, Switzerland. European Association for Machine Translation.
Cite (Informal):
Are AI agents the new machine translation frontier? Challenges and opportunities of single- and multi-agent systems for multilingual digital communication (Briva-Iglesias, MTSummit 2025)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2025.mtsummit-1.28.pdf