Amazon Prime Video, one of the world's biggest streaming services with an increasingly bigger anime footprint, has announced an AI dubbing pilot program for licensed TV series and movies.

Amazon recently announced that its Prime Video subscription service has begun an AI dubbing pilot program on licensed movies and TV series. Its stated aims are to "help you enjoy titles that previously did not have dubbing available in select countries and territories" and "would not have been dubbed otherwise." The pilot will begin with English and Latin American Spanish dubs for 12 licensed movies and series, on titles including El Cid: La Leyenda, Mi Mamá Lora and Long Lost.

"At Prime Video, we believe in improving customers’ experience with practical and useful AI innovation," said Raf Soltanovich, VP of technology at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. "AI-aided dubbing is only available on titles that do not have dubbing support, and we are eager to explore a new way to make series and movies more accessible and enjoyable." Amazon says the dubbing project will see localization professionals collaborate with AI to ensure quality control. "AI-aided processes like this one, which incorporate the right amount of human expertise, can enable localization for titles that would not otherwise be accessible to customers," it added.

Assuming the pilot program's success, it's unclear whether this will be rolled out to anime, of which many titles never receive English dubs. Amazon Prime Video is one of the world's biggest streaming services for anime, placing fourth in Parrot Analytics' 2023 estimated global anime streaming revenue list -- above Disney+ and Max. The streaming service is also huge in the U.S. specifically. In 2023, Polygon surveyed where Gen Z and Millennials consume their anime -- the demographic forms the majority of U.S. anime watchers. It was revealed that Amazon was the third most selected option, narrowly behind Hulu and ahead of Crunchyroll, Max, Funimation, Tubi, VRV and HIDIVE. Its anime catalog includes many of the most popular titles, like My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen and the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy. It most recently announced its exclusive acquisition of the global streaming rights to the Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX TV series.

In the past, Crunchyroll has floated using A.I. to generate subtitles. "How do we improve and optimize our processes where we can get the subtitles done in various languages across the world faster so that we can launch as close to the Japanese release as possible?" CEO Rahul Purini said. "So that's definitely an area that we're focused on." The introduction of AI subtitles or dubbing, potentially in Amazon's case, would likely be met with fierce opposition, at least initially.

While the situation has drastically improved, English dubs have long dealt with stigma from the days of voice-acting quality concerns and extremely loose or highly adapted scripts. Major streaming services continue to be criticized for inaccurate subtitles; Re:Zero fans have been particularly vocal about that this season, while another anime had an episode pulled temporarily for poor quality in 2023.

Critics argue that instead of A.I. initiatives, subtitling would benefit from more manpower and better synchronization with Japanese schedules. Meanwhile, promoting more remote working options, investment in the development and lead times of ADR directors and scriptwriters and their work, and widening the talent pool would better help the fan experience for dubs. Proponents point to anime's drastic recent boom as a reason for the necessity of A.I. Given anime's decades-long struggle with tight profit margins, lowering the cost while widening accessibility may be the priority despite quality concerns.

Source: Amazon