Dutch publisher owned by Simon & Schuster to trial using AI for English-language translations

The largest book publisher in The Netherlands has confirmed it plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to translate some of its books into English, The Bookseller can exclusively reveal. 

Utrecht-headquartered publisher Veen Bosch & Keuning (VBK) was acquired by Simon & Schuster earlier this year. It was Simon & Schuster’s first acquisition of a non-English-language publisher, which it said at the time would help it access “broader European markets”. 

A spokesperson for VBK told The Bookseller: “We are working on a limited experiment with some Dutch authors, for their books to be translated into English language using AI. There will be one editing phase, and authors have been asked to give permission for this.  

“We are not creating books with AI, it all starts and ends with human action. The translations are not yet launched.” 

The Bookseller understands that a limited number of books are being translated and only in cases where the English rights have not been sold. 

Ian Giles, chair of the Translators Association at the Society of Authors (SoA), said: “This is concerning news. Earlier this year, the SoA found that one third of literary translators are already losing work to AI. Where work itself is not lost, translators struggle to increase their prices in the face of the AI challenger. This pressure on translators’ incomes jeopardises our ability to support ourselves in what is a highly precarious industry.” 

He added: “If authors wouldn’t let AI write their own work, do they wish it to be translated by AI? AI models are pattern-spotting machines, converting inputs to and outputs from numbers, and prioritising fluency over all else in the end product. If this publisher feels the need to consult human translators or editors to adjust the output, they are recognising the flaws in this approach. A low-quality translation, even following post-editing, will misrepresent or at worst negatively affect the author’s original work unbeknownst to them.” 

Lisa Fransson, a Swedish-to-English translator and author of The Shape of Guilt (Epoque Press), wrote in a comment piece for The Bookseller: “As a translator I’m deeply concerned about the rise of AI, and particularly in terms of using it to translate literature, and as an author I know that I weigh every word… A book, any book, is a work of art. So why would you even consider running it through a machine?” 

She said that among technical translators, where AI has already made huge advances, prices have been “driven down” and focus shifted “from translation to machine translation post-editing".

“[Technical translators have] already left the profession in droves, to do literally anything else,” she said. “Although AI hasn’t quite caught up with literary translation yet, the knowledge that it’s there is making it harder for translators to charge their going rate.” 

Simon & Schuster was bought by the private equity firm KKR in August 2023. At the time, KKR said it intended to support the publisher’s growth into international markets.  

The Bookseller contacted Simon & Schuster to ask if VBK’s AI translation trial had any wider implications for its parent business or if it planned to expand further into Europe. Simon & Schuster declined to comment.