In October 2023, CEATL conducted a survey about the impact of AI on literary translators’ work and income. Approximately 1,500 literary translators from 34 CEATL member associations answered the questionnaire.

Here are the key results:

• Half of the respondents stated that they have already used AI tools for a literary translation project by their own preference, but most of them used those tools only a few times and only for single phrases or sentences.
• About 70 % found the usage of AI for their work not at all or hardly useful.
• Until November 2023, the time of the survey, only about 10 % of the respondents had ever been asked to do post-editing of computer-generated translations. One third of those had not at all or only occasionally been told by the client that the text they received for post-editing was machine-translated. Those post-editing jobs were generally paid much less than the usual translator’s fee. Most of the respondents who had already done postediting jobs found that it was the same amount of work or even more than literary translation without AI. Only 8 % had been asked by editors/clients NOT to use AI tools for a literary translation project.
• Asked about their attitude towards the usage of AI, 74 % answered: (very) negative, similar to their attitude towards the usage of post-editing of computer-generated texts in literary translation.
• 69 % of the respondents find it (very) important to notify the client/publisher if they use any form of AI translation for a literary translation project.

The results show that translators in general (and other people who work in the publishing industry) are concerned about the inappropriate use of AI and that its development should be monitored carefully.