Massive AI-powered publishing in South Korea sparks controversy: Quality, circulation, and the future of the book industry.
Hearing this, Calypso trembled with anger. "I'm furious!"
This is an excerpt from a book translated by a South Korean publisher using artificial intelligence to translate the ancient Greek epic, The Odyssey . When modern slang like "I'm so annoyed," "It's none of my business," or "So what?" appears in the story of Odysseus—the hero of the Trojan War—many readers feel it damages the dignity and spirit of a classic work.
As AI-powered publishing becomes increasingly popular, the debate over quality is heating up. Some readers are calling for the removal of "low-quality, unverified AI books" from the market. Meanwhile, the publishing industry argues that this trend is inevitable in terms of efficiency and cost reduction; the core issue lies not in the technology itself, but in the editing and review process.
The explosion of AI publishing and the controversy surrounding the deposit system.
In the South Korean publishing industry as a whole, the number of publishers 'mass-producing' books using AI is rapidly increasing. Luminary Books—a prime example—is reportedly releasing up to 9,000 e-books annually thanks to AI. Their catalog ranges from economics books like Basic Candlestick Charts for Stock Investing to social science books such as Life Science for Teens and Niccolò Machiavelli Aphorisms .
The authors are often listed generally as 'Luminary Books Education Editorial Team' or 'Luminary Books Finance Editorial Team'. The product information also clearly states that the book was created with the assistance of AI.
Luminary Books isn't the only publisher that publicly acknowledges its use of AI; at least seven other publishers have publicly stated their use. However, industry insiders believe the actual number is much higher if you include those who use AI as an auxiliary tool or don't disclose their use.
The problem lies in the fact that the quality hasn't met readers' expectations. The controversial translation of The Odyssey is full of slang like 'Seubuljae' (a Korean abbreviation meaning 'self-inflicted misfortune') or the phrase 'What on earth 129' (referring to 'What's going on?'). Even the preface has an awkward and unnatural tone.
Some suspect that mass publishing using AI may be aimed at exploiting the 'legal deposit system'. By law, institutions like the National Assembly Library of Korea and the National Library of Korea must collect domestically published works and pay the publisher the cover price of a copy. Last year, the National Library of Korea decided to reject 395 e-books submitted for deposit by Luminary Books.
Publishers facing criticism argue they are being treated unfairly. A representative from the publisher of the translated version of The Odyssey stated that AI was only used in the translation process, while the book was still reviewed by humans before publication. They claimed the inclusion of slang was intentional, aimed at bridging the generational gap. They also acknowledged that the controversial book used an older AI version; translations using the latest version, they argue, are 'almost indistinguishable from a human translation.'
Luminary Books also stated that it had never received 'even 1 won' in compensation through deposit, and said it only deposited certain books to avoid legal risks if it failed to fulfill its obligations. The company said it stopped depositing books last September.
'A last resort' in the context of a publishing crisis.
Some argue that the use of AI is unavoidable as the publishing market shrinks. According to data released through the Financial Supervisory Service's DART system, the total revenue of 71 publicly reporting publishers in 2024 reached 4.8911 trillion won — a decrease of nearly 500 billion won compared to 5.3836 trillion won five years ago. The situation for smaller publishers is believed to be even more difficult.
In that context, hiring a translator for a book typically costs at least 2–3 million won. Meanwhile, using AI only requires an annual subscription fee of a few tens of thousands of won.
AI has also become a tool for expanding revenue streams. According to Korean law, 70 years after an author's death, their work can be freely published without copyright restrictions. Therefore, classic literature by long-deceased authors has become a prime target for AI-powered translations. The publisher that previously released the controversial version of The Odyssey was primarily focused on academic books.
As AI has penetrated the market—to the point where writer Hwang Seok-young admitted to using ChatGPT for a recent work—quality control is predicted to become increasingly important.
Professor Lee Byung-hoon, a sociology professor at Chung-Ang University, believes that regardless of personal opinions, the number of works such as plays and novels that utilize AI will continue to increase. He suggests that one solution might be to establish regulations requiring content producers to publicly disclose the extent of their AI use in the creative process.
