Lilit Thwaites

Globally, publishing houses have begun to explore AI for literary translation. This development has exposed what Jitka Zehnalová & Helena Kubátová (“The Profession of Literary Translator in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, 2026) call the “constant tension between a sense of purpose, systemic vulnerability, and everyday negotiation” in the profession. The tension is illustrated by a UK survey (Society of Authors 2024): over 30% of book translators reported losing work to generative AI. A similar proportion had used generative AI in their translation process, sometimes in response to a publisher’s request. Our panel will take up questions that follow from this, including:

• · How is the work of literary translation meaningful in the age of AI?
• · In what ways does human translation differ from machine translation?
• · Is co-translation with AI desirable, and under what conditions?
• · What is gained, and what is lost?

The panel will feature speakers Judith Bishop (La Trobe Uni, moderator), Ward Peeters (Linguistics, Monash Uni), Brigid Maher (Italian Studies, La Trobe Uni), and Adam Zulawnik (Korean Studies, University of Melbourne) to lead us through these pressing questions.