But writing messages online is very different from writing books, no? As much as I’d love for the quality and type of communication in forums to be book-like, it simply isn’t. Most people in forums are trying to discuss straightforward, often technical, often practical things. Having a good-enough translation is very useful, it’s akin to an accessibility feature. Yes, AI can fail to translate the meaning for complex arguments… but the medium (forums) isn’t really well suited for complex arguments anyway.
And, the benefit for people that can’t read the dominant languages (say, English for meta) is very tangible. I love seeing people write bug reports here in their language and me being able to understand what they mean even though I can’t speak or read their language. And me or others being able to help without speaking a word of their language. It would be a shame to stop being helpful to people on the premise that the translating mechanism is not 100% perfect.
We’re veering into off-topic territory, but IMO this is not necessarily the case. I’ve read several poorly translated books (human translations, translating isn’t easy) and I often found something valuable that made me want to seek out the original. I see no reason why that can’t happen online, as long as the original is within easy reach.