An AI fiction translation service aimed at both traditional publishers and self-published authors has been launched in the UK. GlobeScribe.ai is currently charging $100 per book, per language for use of its translation services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will always be a place for expert human translation, especially for highly literary or complex texts,\u201d said the founders Fred Freeman and Betsy Reavley, who previously founded Bloodhound Books, which specialises in crime and thrillers. \u201cBut GlobeScribe.ai opens the door to new opportunities, making translation a viable option for a much broader range of fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n
GlobeScribe conducted \u201cextensive blind testing\u201d of its tool. Native speakers reviewed GlobeScribe translations alongside human-translated versions of texts without being told which method had been used. \u201cThe feedback consistently showed that readers could not reliably distinguish between them,\u201d according to a company statement. \u201cIn some cases, reviewers even felt the AI-assisted versions were closer in tone and fidelity to the original English manuscript.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, prominent translators along with a translators\u2019 organisation have expressed concern over the initiative.<\/p>\n
GlobeScribe \u201cmay claim to unlock global access for fiction, but their approach sidelines the very people who make literature resonate across cultures,\u201d said Ian Giles, chair of the Society of Authors\u2019 Translators Association. \u201cSuggesting that AI can match, or even surpass, the nuanced work of human translators on behalf of authors is flat-out wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best literary translations offer more than simple accuracy, more than literal fidelity to the words making up the sentences,\u201d said Polly Barton, writer and translator of works including the bestselling Butter by Asako Yuzuki<\/a> from Japanese to English. \u201cThey are engaging with the context from which the book has come, and reproducing the pacing, atmosphere, emotional timbre, rhythm, and all the other, less superficially obvious factors that ultimately determine how fulfilling and rich the reading experience is.\u201d<\/p>\n