KUALA LUMPUR: In a sarcastic jab at Teresa Kok, a Pas leader has offered to donate part of his government allocation to help her hire a translator.
The offer comes after the Seputeh member of Parliament faced backlash for what she claims was a mistranslation of her statement on halal certification by ChatGPT, where the phrase "to embarrass" was translated as "memalukan".
Pas information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari, playing on the controversy, expressed his "sympathy" for Teresa, saying that the mistake occurred due to her assistant's lack of proficiency in Malay and time constraints.
"As a gesture of solidarity, I plan to contribute RM300 a month from my Madani government allocation to hire an SPM-qualified part-time assistant specifically to handle Malay translations. That is, of course, if I get the allocation," he said on Facebook.
He added that supporters of the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) coalition would surely "be delighted by his spirit" of solidarity with the DAP MP.
Previously, Teresa said that an inaccurate translation by artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT led to a misunderstanding over her statement on halal certification.
LINK: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/09/1106306/chatgpt-blunder-cause...
She told Mingguan Malaysia that during police questioning, she explained her original Mandarin statement had been translated into Malay by a colleague before being posted on Facebook.
However, due to time constraints, the translation, Teresa said, was not properly reviewed before being shared and was then picked up by the media.
"My colleague, who is fluent in Mandarin, usually handles translations, but since they were rushing for an overseas assignment, they used ChatGPT for speed. Unfortunately, some words were mistranslated, and we didn't double-check the text," she said.