Kagi Translate’s AI answers the question “What would slutty Margaret Thatcher say?”

If you’ve been using the Internet for a while, you’ve probably used a tool like Google Translate to convert web pages or pieces of text to and from languages ​​ranging from Uzbek to Esperanto. But what if you want to translate into more esoteric “languages” like “LinkedIn speaks” “Generation Z Slang” either “Margaret Thatcher horny”?

This week, many people on the Internet have been puzzled to discover that the AI-powered system Kagi Translate can perform these and countless other improbable “translation” tasks. And while collective discovery highlights the playful and creative side of large language models, it also exposes the risks of allowing users to play with generalized LLM tools.

What really is a “language”?

While you may know Kagi better as the paid competitor to Google’s increasingly worse search productthe company launched its Kagi Translate tool in 2024saying at the time that it was a “simply better” competitor to tools like Google Translate and Deep. At the launch, the company said that Kagi Translate “uses a combination of LLM, selecting and optimizing the best result for each task,” a fact that “can occasionally lead to quirks that we are actively working to resolve.”

He first versions of the tool It featured simple drop-down menus to choose from 244 different languages ​​for the translation source and destination. However, in February 2025, at least a little-known Hacker News poster I noticed that you could play with the URL parameters to set the target language to “rude man with a Boston accent” without altering anything.

An HN user noticed the funniest uses of Kagi Translate over a year ago, without much fanfare.

In recent weeks, Kagi’s own social media account has highlighted the service’s ability to imitate “Reddit Speak” either generate McKinsey consultant talk with a few clicks on Kagi Translate. However, early Tuesday morning, these unorthodox use cases broke containment after a Hacker News user happy to inform that “Kagi Translate now supports LinkedIn Speak as an output language.” Further down in that popular HN thread, other users noticed You can alter the output language by simply typing in the search bar of Kagi Translate’s web interface, and the tool’s underlying AI will do its best to adapt to you.