‘It gets more and more confused’: can AI replace translators?

A Dutch publisher has announced that it will use AI to translate some of its books - but those in the industry are worried about the consequences if this becomes the norm

As anyone who has tried pointing their phone's camera at a menu in a foreign country lately will know, machine translation has improved rapidly since the first days of Google Translate. The utility of AI-powered translation in situations like this is unquestionable - but the proposed use of AI in literary translation has been significantly more controversial.

Dutch publisher Veen Bosch & Keuning's announcement that it would use AI translation for commercial fiction has outraged both authors and translators - despite attempts to reassure them with promises that no books will be translated in this way without careful checking and that authors will have to give consent.