# The usage problem after using AI translation

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-usage-problem-after-using-ai-translation/374274
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** ai, dynaloc
**Created:** [July 15, 2025, 10:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-usage-problem-after-using-ai-translation/374274 "2025-07-15T10:22:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 2

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### Author: ![nat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/nat/32/235063_2.png) [@nat](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nat)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2025, 10:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-usage-problem-after-using-ai-translation/374274/2 "2025-07-15T10:33:11Z")

</div>

Hey there, have you followed these recommendations?

> [@Content Localization - Manual and Automatic with Discourse AI](https://meta.discourse.org/t/content-localization-manual-and-automatic-with-discourse-ai/370969/1):
>
> To cover some important settings and recommendations:
> 
> - `AI translation model` - ⚠ **We highly recommend [setting a quota](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configuring-llm-usage-quotas-in-discourse-ai/348125) to the LLM you choose for the translation model.**
> - `AI translation backfill hourly rate` - this setting is hidden in the UI and defaults to 0. **⚠ Automatic translation will not begin if this value is 0.** Assuming the rate is 50, your site will translate 50 posts, 50 topics, and 50 categories per hour, to the locales you have set in `Content localization supported locales`. Keep this to a low number when starting out.
> - `AI translation backfill max age days` - defaults to 5. This means topics and posts older than 5 days will not be translated. You may increase this to a large number to translate all topics and posts.

The usage graph definitely looks concerning. Can you try out this [data explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) query:

```plaintext
SELECT 
  a.id,
  a.language_model,
  LENGTH(p.raw) as raw_length,
  a.response_tokens,
  a.raw_request_payload,
  a.raw_response_payload,
  a.topic_id,
  a.post_id
FROM ai_api_audit_logs a
LEFT JOIN posts p ON p.id = a.post_id AND p.deleted_at IS NULL
LEFT JOIN topics t ON t.id = a.topic_id AND t.deleted_at IS NULL
WHERE a.created_at > CURRENT_DATE - INTERVAL '1 days'
AND p.deleted_at IS NULL
AND t.deleted_at IS NULL
AND p.user_deleted = false
AND a.feature_name = 'translation'
AND LENGTH(p.raw) < 1000
AND a.response_tokens > 10000
ORDER BY a.created_at DESC
LIMIT 100

```

The query should show you the number of response tokens used based on the post’s raw length. Ideally you should see a similar number, not more than 1.5x tokens. The AiApiAuditLog will help with determining what is going on.

Additionally please share,

- What model are you using?
- What’s your backfill hourly rate? I suggest to keep it to a low value, like 50 for starters.
- How many languages are you supporting? Does your selected model support them?

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/the-usage-problem-after-using-ai-translation/374274)._