Amazon‘s Prime Video has launched a pilot program using AI tools to dub select movies and series into English and Latin American Spanish.
The initiative, which launched Wednesday, is intended to make the streaming service’s “vast streaming library accessible to even more customers,” the company wrote in a blog post.
The AI-assisted dubbing will be used for licensed movies and series that would not otherwise have been dubbed. The 12 licensed movies and series being tested including titles like 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.”
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With the streaming boom recently yielding hits made in one international territory and then embraced by viewers elsewhere (the ultimate example being Netflix’s Squid Game), interest in dubbing and subtitling has grown significantly. Netflix reported last year that more than 40% of viewing of Korean unscripted series was dubbed, with “regions like Brazil, Mexico, LATAM and EMEA showing a strong preference for dubbing over subtitles.”
The Prime Video announcement didn’t offer any regional breakdowns, but it called the pilot program “a hybrid approach.” The AI tools are combined with human localization pros in an effort to ensure quality control. “Incorporating the right amount of human expertise can enable localization for titles that would not otherwise be accessible to customers,” the blog post said.
Using AI on the creative/production end of things to span cultures and languages can be tricky. The filmmaking team behind The Brutalist saw the indie film’s Oscar chances briefly thrown into uncertainty after a backlash concerning the use of AI to smooth some actors’ Hungarian dialogue. In the living room, by contrast, AI is more welcome as a way to improve the process of connecting with and discovering programming.
Dubbing is also proliferating on YouTube and on social media. Last year, YouTube rolled out AI tools to promote dubbing and help video content more easily travel and Meta has announced plans for similar resources on Reels to help with dubbing and lip-syncing.
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