Publishing an AI translation on KDP, Apple Books and Kobo

Most ebook stores now ask how AI was used to make a book, and translation is part of the question. Below is what each store asks, where the question appears and what counts as AI-generated. Everything was checked against the stores’ own pages on October 15, 2026. The rules change often, so open the linked page again before you upload.

At a glance

Before any store: translation rights

The AI question comes after a more basic one: whether you may publish the translation at all. Translating your own book is fine. For someone else’s book you need the translation rights from the rights holder, usually the author’s publisher or agent, for each language and territory you plan to sell in. Stores can ask for proof and remove books that infringe copyright.

Out-of-copyright classics are not an easy way round. Barnes & Noble Press stopped accepting public domain titles in April 2026, Draft2Digital does not accept them, Kobo may reject them, and Amazon does not allow undifferentiated versions when a free edition is already in its store.

Amazon KDP

KDP’s content guidelines ask you to disclose AI-generated text, images and translations when you publish a new book and when you edit and republish one. Anything an AI tool created counts as AI-generated “even if you applied substantial edits afterwards”. Content you wrote yourself and only improved with AI is AI-assisted and needs no disclosure.

Where to answer

1. Open the Content tab of the format you are publishing and find AI-Generated Content.
2. Answer Yes to “Did you use AI tools in creating texts, images, and/or translations in your book?”
3. Under Translations, choose how much was translated with AI and how much it was edited: some sections or the entire work, with minimal or extensive editing.
4. If KDP asks which tool you used, name it.

Each format has its own Content tab, so the ebook, paperback and hardcover are answered separately. KDP also requires translated books to credit both the translator and the original author in the contributor field.

Amazon runs its own AI translation service, Kindle Translate. It is an invite-only beta for ebooks published through KDP, translates between English and French, German, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish, and does not accept books that are already translations.

Apple Books

Apple’s formatting and content guidelines (section 1.13) require a label when “a material portion of the content is generated by an AI-based tool”. AI used for research, ideas or editing a book a person wrote needs no label. A labelled book needs two things:

• a contributor with the “AI Generated by” artist role (guideline 2.9);
• a statement in the description that the content is AI-generated and how it was created (guideline 4.8).

Apple does not put a number on “material portion”. One plain sentence in the description is enough to meet the second rule, for example: “Translated from English with an AI tool and reviewed by [name].”

Barnes & Noble Press

During Build-a-Book, B&N Press asks whether generative AI was used for the cover, manuscript, images or translations, and then whether each was AI-Assisted or AI-Created. Content made with AI stays AI-Created “if you used AI to generate the content and edit it afterward”.

The disclosure is required before a project can be published. If the option to publish does not appear after you upload a new file, finish the AI Disclosure on the Rights & Other Information tab under Book Details.

Kobo

Kobo has no disclosure field. Its content policy reserves the right to reject content “wholly or partially created by digital text-generation algorithms”, and its list of common rejection reasons names both AI-generated and poorly translated books.

Kobo’s content operations team asks publishers who plan to submit AI-authored ebooks to contact their account manager first. If you publish through Kobo Writing Life, ask its support team before you upload.

Google Play Books

Google’s publisher content policies have no rule about AI-generated or AI-translated ebooks, and the upload form has no AI field for them. The Synthesized voice option you may see is for audiobooks. The general quality rules still apply: Google can remove books that give readers a poor experience, such as gibberish or repetitive text.

Draft2Digital and other distributors

Draft2Digital supports AI-assisted books but does not accept content “generated entirely by AI/LLMs that has not gone through extensive editing from a human”. PublishDrive asks for an AI declaration in the Creators section of its upload form, because its partner stores require it.

A distributor passes your book to many stores, and each store’s own rules still apply. Answer for the strictest store your book reaches.

Rules in the EU

Article 50 of the EU AI Act has applied since August 2, 2026. Its duty to disclose AI-generated text covers text published to inform the public on matters of public interest, and it does not apply when the text has gone through human review or editorial control and someone holds editorial responsibility for it.

Checklist before you upload

1. Confirm you hold the translation rights for the language and the territories you sell in.
2. Credit the original author and the translator in the contributor fields.
3. For each store, compare its definitions with how the translation was made.
4. Answer the AI questions for every format: ebook, paperback and hardcover.
5. On Apple Books, add the “AI Generated by” role and a line in the description.
6. Keep the original, the translated file and a note of who reviewed the translation and when.
7. Open each store’s guidelines again on the day you publish.