Research Article

Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic

Volume: 7 June 12, 2026

Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In multicultural societies, effective interpreting and translation services are vital for ensuring community members to have access to services of government departments and agencies. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for swift multilingual translations to make culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) members of a community socially inclusive by facilitating communication in every aspect of life including healthcare settings. This context underscores the potential of advanced AI-based translation technologies such as ChatGPT in addressing the challenges under the unprecedented circumstances. The aim of this qualitative research was to investigate the affordances of AI-driven chatbots in providing effective translations to meet the needs of CALD members in Australia. Data collection involved an in-depth and comparative analysis of the translations of an official document from English into Turkish about the Covid-19 pandemic, including one human translation and three iterations by ChatGPT-4, prompted in accordance with Reiss's text-type functions - informative, expressive, and vocative. To ensure rigor, the translation process using ChatGPT-4 was captured via screen recording. The findings indicate that AI chatbots, when utilized by professional translators, can enhance translation quality and effectiveness. This research holds significance for industry professionals and researchers in translation and interpreting, offering insights and raising an awareness of some potential limitations and new directions.

Keywords

community translation, healthcare, translation technology, GenAI

Ethical Statement

The present study is based on the analysis of publicly available texts and secondary data. It does not involve direct interaction with human participants or the collection of personal data. Accordingly, ethical approval was not required.

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APA
Çetin, Ö., Eser, O., & Duran, A. (2026). Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic. Instructional Technology and Lifelong Learning, 7. https://doi.org/10.52911/itall.1870352
AMA
1.Çetin Ö, Eser O, Duran A. Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic. ITALL. 2026;7. doi:10.52911/itall.1870352
Chicago
Çetin, Özge, Oktay Eser, and Ali Duran. 2026. “Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic”. Instructional Technology and Lifelong Learning 7 (June). https://doi.org/10.52911/itall.1870352.
EndNote
Çetin Ö, Eser O, Duran A (June 1, 2026) Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic. Instructional Technology and Lifelong Learning 7
IEEE
[1]Ö. Çetin, O. Eser, and A. Duran, “Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic”, ITALL, vol. 7, June 2026, doi: 10.52911/itall.1870352.
ISNAD
Çetin, Özge - Eser, Oktay - Duran, Ali. “Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic”. Instructional Technology and Lifelong Learning 7 (June 1, 2026). https://doi.org/10.52911/itall.1870352.
JAMA
1.Çetin Ö, Eser O, Duran A. Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic. ITALL. 2026;7. doi:10.52911/itall.1870352.
MLA
Çetin, Özge, et al. “Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic”. Instructional Technology and Lifelong Learning, vol. 7, June 2026, doi:10.52911/itall.1870352.
Vancouver
1.Özge Çetin, Oktay Eser, Ali Duran. Responsible Use of GenAI Technologies in Health Communication: Translating the Covid-19 Pandemic. ITALL. 2026 Jun. 1;7. doi:10.52911/itall.1870352