Kaer calls AI-assisted classic translations unethical

Estonian publisher Krista Kaer says using artificial intelligence to produce new translations of literary classics is unfair to authors and readers and “simply ethically wrong,” ERR reported. Kaer and Eesti Raamat chief editor Piret Lemetti discussed AI-assisted translations on the cultural programme Delta.

Kaer said conditions for publishing translated literature have not improved in recent years. Print runs have fallen sharply, while publishing translated books is costly because publishers must pay both for rights and for translation, particularly for longer works. She said the number of high-quality translated books has declined.

Classics are being published, including through the Hieronymus book series, Kaer said, but contemporary literary fiction is less well represented. Publishers tend to choose safer titles, leaving much of the world’s literature unavailable to Estonian readers. Kaer said important books appear quickly in France and Germany, while Estonia more often publishes entertainment and crime fiction.

Lemetti said publishers may avoid books they would like to bring out because they involve substantial financial risk. This is especially true of English-language works: if an Estonian edition does not appear around the same time as the English one, readers may already have bought or read that edition.

Kaer said the share of books translated from English is also declining in other European countries, as more people read in English. For Estonia, she said, translations from Nordic and Central European countries, as well as Asia, are becoming more important. South Korean literature is gaining ground, but Estonia does not have enough translators, she added.

Both publishers said unfamiliar authors can be difficult to introduce to readers, who often prefer names they already know or can connect with other writers. Kaer warned that if print runs fall by a further few hundred copies, publishing some books may no longer be viable. She hoped libraries would buy titles that readers are reluctant to purchase.

Kaer also said agents are gradually raising author royalties and translation rights fees, despite an assumption that publishers are selling more books and doing better. As a result, niche works aimed at an audience of just 300 to 400 people may remain untranslated.

Publishers also revise older translations. Kaer said such work can be necessary, citing new editions of Dostoevsky by Varrak and her own new translation of Yeats. But she said some recent translations of Arthur Conan Doyle appeared to have been produced with AI and were “absolutely terrible.”