The Loop We Didn't Choose

This special issue examines whether the interpreting profession can remain sustainable amid rapid advances in artificial intelligence. The papers in this issue provide empirical evidence, theoretical frameworks, and practical insights from diverse geographical contexts - Poland, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Malta, Austria, Germany, and Japan - and across multiple interpreting modalities, including conference interpreting, community interpreting, speech-to-text interpreting, and broadcast interpreting. Together, they paint a complex picture of a profession at a critical crossroads. This introduction synthesizes the contributions through the conceptual lens of human-machine configurations - distinguishing between contexts where humans remain in the loop, where they operate on the loop in supervisory roles, and where they are being placed out of the loop illuminating not only the current state of AI interpreting but also the ethical conditions under which professional sustainability might be achieved.