Former professional translator here (Japanese-to-English, 1986 to 2005). I have very mixed feelings about MT.
On the one hand, as you and others point out, rates for human translation have been hurt, and the quality of a lot of MT-enabled translation visible to the public is mediocre to poor.
On the other hand, MT is enabling communication among people that was not possible or practical before. A small start-up is able to find customers and suppliers in countries with different languages. People with common interests but diverse languages are able to chat and share ideas on social media. A person receives an e-mail from a long-lost relative in a language the recipient doesn’t know; MT enables them to correspond and eventually meet up. Little of that communication would be taking place if a human translator had to be found and paid for each interaction.
On the one hand, as you and others point out, rates for human translation have been hurt, and the quality of a lot of MT-enabled translation visible to the public is mediocre to poor.
On the other hand, MT is enabling communication among people that was not possible or practical before. A small start-up is able to find customers and suppliers in countries with different languages. People with common interests but diverse languages are able to chat and share ideas on social media. A person receives an e-mail from a long-lost relative in a language the recipient doesn’t know; MT enables them to correspond and eventually meet up. Little of that communication would be taking place if a human translator had to be found and paid for each interaction.