# What is machine translation?

> Automatic translation between languages by software.

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary/machine-translation
By Andrew Kittridge · November 10, 2026

## Why it matters for Christians

Useful for live captions and first drafts. A Bible drafted this way still has to be checked verse by verse against the original languages, and someone has to answer for it.

## What to do

Use machine translation for a first pass or live captions, and say so. For Scripture, read a translation made and checked by people who answer for it, and compare two translations when a verse matters to you.

## Read more

- [Can AI translate the Bible?](https://www.lumin.faith/can-ai-translate-the-bible)

## Related words

- [Generative AI](https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary/generative-ai.md): AI that produces new text, images, audio, or video rather than only classifying or searching existing content.
- [Large language model](https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary/large-language-model.md): An AI model trained on vast amounts of text to predict likely next words. It powers ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and most Christian chat apps.

Every word: [Christian AI glossary](https://www.lumin.faith/christian-ai-glossary.md)