UK Society of Authors Launches Campaign Addressing GenAI in Translation

In a June 23, 2025 statement, the UK’s Society of Authors (SoA), a professional organization that lobbies the Government and industry, kicked off a campaign to highlight the work of human translators as the use of AI translation becomes more widespread.

According to the SoA statement, the organization’s 2024 member survey was a major factor in the group’s decision to launch the campaign.

“The responses from our translator members made particularly sobering reading. Almost four in ten translators (36%) said they had already lost work due to generative AI and nearly half [43%] said that AI had decreased their income,” the text reads. “They feared that far worse was to come with over three-quarters of translators (77%) believing that AI would negatively impact their future income.”

More than 900 of the SoA’s 12,500 members are reportedly translators; of the 787 survey responses, 78 came from self-identified translators, about 8% of whom said they have used GenAI in their work at a client’s request.

Among the “alarming developments” the SoA has observed since publishing its survey results in April 2025: Audible’s recent announcement that the company plans to roll out AI narration, including AI translation from English into Spanish, French, Italian, and German. The SoA warned that, as the world’s largest audiobook retailer, this shift could have a “devastating impact” on translators.

Similarly, Veen Bosch & Keuning, the Netherlands’ largest book publisher, confirmed plans to AI translate some of its books into English in November 2024. UK publisher Taylor & Francis also intends to use AI to translate books into English, allowing the company to “make an increased range of translated titles available.”

“Authors, rightly, don’t let AI write their books and readers wouldn’t want them to, and translation is no different.” — Ian Giles, Chair, Translators Association

Also in the UK, the SoA cited the passage of the Data (Use and Access) Bill, without amendments that could have required greater transparency about AI firms’ use of copyright-protected works in training large language models (LLMs). (However, as two recent California lawsuits have demonstrated, there is no guarantee that authors or translators will receive compensation for such use of their copyrighted content.)

Disappointed by the lack of government protections, the SoA’s Translators Association launched a campaign inviting authors “to add their support by expressing, in their own words, how the craft of human translation cannot be replicated by AI machines.”

More specifically, the TA asks authors to oppose the use of AI in the production and/or translation of their works and to “demand” the use of human translators when negotiating the sale of translation rights.

The SoA cited the “high-profile TA-led campaign #translatorsonthecover” as an example of a previous successful initiative, as “many” publishers now feature translators’ names on book covers.

In his statement, TA Chair Ian Giles described Audible’s plans for AI narration and translation of audiobooks as a “shortcut”.

“Authors, rightly, don’t let AI write their books and readers wouldn’t want them to, and translation is no different. […] The only way that writers’ creativity can be truly appreciated by readers in translation is when it has been translated by another skilled creator — a human translator.” 

Of course, Audible and several European publishers are betting that AI translation is good enough for readers. In all likelihood, however, sales and not philosophy will determine the path they, and their competitors, decide to pursue.