Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools¶
Why it matters¶
AI tools have become foundational to modern language technology work. This competency enables consultants to amplify their productivity, offload routine cognitive work, sharpen decision-making, and accelerate innovation. Just as importantly, it equips consultants to evaluate AI output critically and to apply AI responsibly in contexts where outputs touch Scripture, sensitive minority-language data, and the trust of partner communities.
Progression¶
Each rung is a level a learner is at; its activities are what carries them to the next one. How to read these levels
General AI Tools (LLMs and AI Assistants)¶
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0No Competency
Can get useful results from a general AI assistant (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) for everyday tasks such as drafting, summarizing, brainstorming, and explaining concepts. Understands that AI can hallucinate and that outputs require verification.Carries a learner to 1 — Has Knowledge
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1Has Knowledge
Crafts effective prompts using techniques such as clear context-setting, role assignment, few-shot examples, and structured-output requests. Can compare and choose among major tools for different needs.Carries a learner to 2 — With Assistance
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2With Assistance
Collaborates with AI assistants as part of regular workflow — using multi-turn refinement, projects/custom instructions, file and image uploads, document analysis, and built-in connectors (Drive, email, calendars, etc.). Knows when AI is not the right tool.Carries a learner to 3 — Independent
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3Independent
Trains and coaches others in effective use of general AI tools, including running workshops, producing reference material, and providing one-on-one support.Carries a learner to 4 — Expert
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4Expert
—Top of the ladder
Specialized Language and Translation AI Tools¶
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0No Competency
Can explain which categories of specialized AI tools apply to which language-work tasks — e.g., neural machine translation, automated quality assessment (AQuA), Greek/Hebrew study tools (Greek Room), automatic speech recognition for low-resource languages (MMS, Whisper), text-to-speech, OCR for non-Latin scripts, alignment, and back-translation tools.Carries a learner to 1 — Has Knowledge
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1Has Knowledge
Uses available specialized AI tools, including SIL-internal tools, for concrete tasks with guidance.Carries a learner to 2 — With Assistance
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2With Assistance
Is able to assist users in different domains to use the specialized AI tools available.Carries a learner to 3 — Independent
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3Independent
Trains and supports users across language teams and domains in adopting specialized AI tools. Provides structured feedback to tool developers and shares best practices across the consultant community.Carries a learner to 4 — Expert
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4Expert
—Top of the ladder
Critical Evaluation and Quality Assurance of AI Output¶
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0No Competency
Recognizes that AI outputs can be wrong, biased, or fabricated — and that this risk is heightened for low-resource languages and for theological, cultural, and named-entity content.Carries a learner to 1 — Has Knowledge
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1Has Knowledge
Routinely verifies AI-generated content against authoritative sources. Identifies common failure modes (hallucinated citations, mistranslated proper nouns, dropped negations, register drift, doctrinal inaccuracy, fluent-but-wrong output).Carries a learner to 2 — With Assistance
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2With Assistance
Designs and applies systematic review processes for AI-assisted work — spot-checking, back-translation comparison, reference-matching, and human-in-the-loop validation appropriate to the stakes of the task.Carries a learner to 3 — Independent
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3Independent
Trains others in evaluation methods and helps establish quality-assurance standards for AI use within their team or project.Carries a learner to 4 — Expert
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4Expert
—Top of the ladder
Ethical, Responsible, and Secure Use of AI¶
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0No Competency
Understands that data submitted to AI tools may be stored, used for model training, or exposed — and that unpublished translations, partner data, and community language data require special care. Aware of relevant SIL and Wycliffe AI guidelines.Carries a learner to 1 — Has Knowledge
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1Has Knowledge
Applies basic data-handling practices: redacting sensitive content, choosing tools with appropriate privacy/retention settings, respecting community ownership of language data, and disclosing AI-assisted work appropriately.Carries a learner to 2 — With Assistance
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2With Assistance
Evaluates AI tools for fitness in a given context — weighing privacy, licensing, cost, cultural appropriateness, and theological reliability — and advises colleagues on tool selection.Carries a learner to 3 — Independent
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3Independent
Trains and advises others on responsible AI practice, and helps shape local guidelines for AI use with the language communities they serve.Carries a learner to 4 — Expert
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4Expert
—Top of the ladder
AI Workflow Integration and Automation¶
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0No Competency
Understands that AI can be embedded into larger workflows beyond chat interfaces — through APIs, agents, scripts, IDE integrations, custom assistants (Projects, Custom GPTs, Gems), and connectors to tools like Drive, email, and code repositories.Carries a learner to 1 — Has Knowledge
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1Has Knowledge
Uses pre-built AI integrations to streamline routine work — for example, AI features inside Office, VS Code, or browsers; configured Projects/Custom GPTs with system prompts and reference files; AI-assisted search across personal documents.Carries a learner to 2 — With Assistance
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2With Assistance
Builds simple AI-augmented automations or lightweight agents to handle recurring language-tech tasks — for example, using Claude Code or Copilot to generate and run scripts, chaining steps with tools like n8n or Zapier, or producing small custom assistants tuned to a specific consulting workflow.Carries a learner to 3 — Independent
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3Independent
Designs and shares reusable AI-augmented workflows, scripts, or agents with the wider consultant community. Mentors others in safely extending their own work with automation.Carries a learner to 4 — Expert
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4Expert
—Top of the ladder
Description¶
Knowledge of general and specialized Artificial Intelligence tools.
Further Information¶
- Claude prompting guideGuide · docs.claude.comOverview of when and how to improve prompts for Claude, with links to best practices and interactive tutorials.
- OpenAI AcademySite · academy.openai.comOpenAI's learning platform of AI skills courses and events; use it to build general AI literacy.
- Google AI Essentials / Google AI for EducationSite · ai.googleGoogle's AI portal listing its AI products, productivity tools and developer resources.
- Scripture ForgeSite · software.sil.orgProduct page for Scripture Forge, a web app for collaborative Bible translation with AI drafting and community checking.
- Scripture Forge softwareSite · scriptureforge.orgScripture Forge itself, the online platform for team translation with AI help and community review tools.
- SIL AI and NLPSite · ai.sil.orgSIL's AI and NLP site describing its language AI initiatives; use it to see what SIL is building and why.
- Hugging FaceSite · huggingface.coCommunity platform for sharing and finding machine learning models, datasets and demo applications.
- TAUSSite · taus.netTAUS site, now centred on its API for translation quality estimation and automated post-editing.
More in the resource library.