Replacing Translators and Dubbing Industry with AI?

[@Seminooos]

YES!!! Please put Monica Rial and Jamie Marchi out of a job. I hope Japan can perfect this English dub AI technology real soon.

[@shrap3d]

If only that can be done without AI

[@TheAnimeKoala]

As someone who has mainly watched anime dubbed I know how bad translations can get. That stuff is also now becoming prevalent in subs now too which is sad. So with that being the case, I think AI would be a good thing in the industry to ensure proper faithful translations. Its sad that we need AI to do that, but its how things are. The idea of having the JP voice actors voice in the dub via AI is a fun idea. So many VA's I'd love to hear in English.

[@otakuspirit]

I didn't hit it hard enough on this video, but key word is consistency. More so because it can put translation into the hands of the actual creators before it gets into the hands of the west.

[@maggot216]

A bigger reason anime studios should dub/sub in house would be to cut out the need for licensing/outsourcing to other companies like Sony. I only dream of the day that major studio players come together and make their own service directly out of Japan. Ideally the collective studios would split profits among participants such as A1, KyoAni, Mappa, Passion, etc. In truth, I could see Sentai getting in on the action. HiDive already exists as an established brand/website. Which I believe could have a Power Rangers channel if they wanted. (could be wrong on that though) As for AI animation, I see no problem with using software to fill in between animation. 3D animators have been using tools for in between fills for years. So no skin off my back if it allows 2D animators to get more work done in an efficient manner while managing to actually get some well deserved sleep.

[@thecompareablezombie]

The people who censored content need to be punished. That part to the side, the modern day translators have many many questionable things. I watched dubs till 2014ish, unless I watch certain dubs of the past.

[@minit9999]

Bruh I looked at this and had to start checking if this was a haiku. (it's not btw, just roughly 3x the syllable count. Really close to the ratio though.)

[@atomixfang]

I really hope that happens Hearing the original actor's voice in english with a proper translation would be a great advancement to anime.

[@kjsworld2]

personally, this is a great idea, especially for old anime like Wangan Midnight that we all wish got a dub, but never did, although as you said, it would definitely be a work in progress

[@maggot216]

Then you have shows which have been gatekept for dubs. Monagatari and Tatami Galaxy immediately come to mind... Not to mention how much I'm shocked and wished Kaiba would get dubbed. (OG studio Gainax)

[@philg8556]

I think this is a natural progression and suspect it'll be here quicker than expected. I would not be surprised to see the first "auto-dub" within 5 to 10 years considering how quickly AI is gaining traction. Even if studios don't adopt it, I can see being able to use a website or app to upload the audio into and then have it spit out a dub for anything in your collection.

[@matt3377]

Anything that would get rid of the these horrendous sounding dubs, I am all for.

[@goldenangel158]

At this point get rid of the translatiors because they are getting worse and it won't stop until they get fired or replace by AI I fully welcome AI dub and sub for animes

[@crazydubscartoons]

I would like it if AI is used like I do (once it is more advanced and precise): skilled human voice actors (doesn't matter if they are notorious) voicing over professionally without adding anything inadequate to the script by the script-writers, and the voice actors voice replaced by AI with the voice from the original actor (whichever language and media).

[@RegalHyperus]

Just give KickVic a taste of their own medicine, the rest are fine

[@subhankarbaral9236]

I read in a Japanese magazine once that some big names like A1, Toei are actually creating Jali like software for anime. If you guys don't know what Jali is, Jali is an advanced AI based mouth lip flap generation software which can generate mouth flaps based on voice only. It's used in Cyberpunk 2077 for creating all versions of the game. It's still in infant stage but if it becomes successful then it will help not only for creating the lip flaps for original Japanese but for other languages too like English. Many studios want the money that Crunchyroll earns through dub versions of the anime because money generated through dub version goes exclusively to Crunchyroll. In future, we might see Japanese studios themselves hiring VAs for dubs too but of course, if AI dub became a reality, it will help them to save money.

[@TBoneTony]

AI is better compared to what we already have with English Dubs. I would rather have Engrish Dubs at this point, just want to experience what the Japanese have without it being cut or censored just for the "Modern Western Audience".

[@Phoebe3315]

Okay. I don't see this happening the way you want it to happen, and I don't think most people would be happy about it. Unless the AI does a perfect job taking a Japanese performance and making it English while accounting for all of the complexities in what is said, aligning with mouth movements, and so on, most people who are sub only watchers will continue with sub only. Then people who are dub only are left with something that is possibly jarring in some way if there's talking when a mouth isn't moving or there's a Japanese accent or anything along those lines. For people like me, who enjoy anime in both languages, this would take away my ability to choose between different sounding voices. Sometimes I just think the dub actor's voice suits a character more. Yes, voice acting is taken more seriously in Japan and the performances are usually better...but there's still a lot of American voice actors I really enjoy, like Abby Trott, Caitlin Glass, Max Mittelman and Johnny Yong Bosch. I want to be able to continue experiencing both. If a voice bank is made for your favorite voice actors...wouldn't that be used to put them out of future work in Japanese before it would be used to create a replica of their voice speaking perfect English? I imagine they'd still get royalties or something but that might not end as well for them. I definitely think a better solution to the problem with dubs you describe is for the Japanese companies to have more control over dub scripts, or for there to be some way to completely stop things like inserting personal political beliefs into a scene (Jamie Marchi, Monica Rial, and a handful of others shouldn't be dubbing anime, and I try to stay away from dubs they are in).

[@danielantony1882]

You don't need to cope this hard. It's already happening.

[@Phoebe3315]

@@danielantony1882 Has it actually been done to dub a full show? Which one? Are the Japanese voice actors replacing the need for English voice actors well with a good translation that matches the lip movements? Does all the emotion carry over properly without it sounding weird, as if the Japanese actors are fluent in English? I know this technology for translation is out there, but I didn't think it's been fully implemented yet for an anime and I don't expect it to sound as good as someone fluent in English performing in English with the same level of skill. I understand this could happen one day for some shows (if it hasn't already), but I also think many people will want to support/hear their favorite English voice actors and dislike the AI dubbing. I really don't feel like I'm coping but feel free to prove me wrong. :/ Yes, voice acting is bigger in Japan than in the US and they are generally more skilled at it, but there are still lots of very good English voice actors I'd like to keep hearing in anime.

[@danielantony1882]

@@Phoebe3315I meant that the basics have already been tested. I'm not sure if KZbin is messing with me or not, since it's hard to find anything now, compared to before, but some people already tested how good the AI can mimic the voice, and it's already been a year.

[@MaximilianoAedo]

I remember doing dream casts, starting from almost a decade ago, where I would usually use the voiceover pool of the long-defunct Animaze (if you watched Cowboy Bebop, The Big O, Ghost in the Shell SAC and Code Geass dubbed, you'll know). It would be the veterans (Steve Blum, Crispin Freeman, Kari Wahlgren, Johnny Yong Bosch, etc.), then the Funimation and ADV Films vets currently living in LA (Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Kyle Hebert, Cherami Leigh, Spike Spencer, Amanda Winn Lee and Ben Pronsky), and lastly I added in Jennifer Love Hewitt, Brian Hallisay and several other underrated actors and actresses who also do voiceover work on occasion, as Animaze had a history of using such actors for its dubs in addition to the usual rank and file voice actors. As much as I love for Animaze to come back and do dubs again, using AI for it wouldn't evoke the same feeling. I know that Kevin Seymour would be rolling over in his grave if it were to happen.

[@Night-ec7ef]

While I enjoy some of the dub vas I think alot of the pale in comparison to the Japanese ones. Maybe they just aren't trying enough, but the jp ones seem to have so much more emotion, and range. I have heard them voice two different people and not even noticed they were the same person. It gets old in dub when you hear like the same 3 voices in every anime. Hearing an ai done in English dub done right I think would be amazing. Kinda how I already recall anime I watch in sub.

[@skrillex544]

Bro youre way ahead of your time! Subbed 👊

[@rilantius]

Thinking the anime industry would pay the actors that worked on the voice bank for any future animes is a wild dream. They probably won't even pay them in creation of the voice bank. The problem with this is that the content that actual VAs can grant to the medium will not be able to be replicated. How can they ever convert the gyaru's in My 1st Girlfriend is a GAl into valley girl speak and adding in contexts that made sense for that type of character in the west. This may not have been true to the original dialogue but it was true to the original character archtype.

[@roiad876]

Voice actors should always and forever own their own voice models, also Japanese fans won't take kindly to hearing the same voices over and over, new and upcoming voice actors would appear, it would only help to lighten the work load and have things like books and manga fully voiced.

[@Untolddead]

The things is when I was watching fansubs it didn't bother me. I mean fansubs used to translate signs and everything. The paid stuff is to lazy to even translate plot important notes sometimes. But when it's a paid person it pisses me off. The real problem with anime dubs is that they use the same people. Usually the best dubs are made when they decided to go outside the normal handful of people. Of course this takes extra time. Like Beck.

[@danck941]

As someone who watches anime dubbed. I've never understood the whole American VAs don't have any emotion in their voice argument that some of the sub onlys make. I've heard plenty of emotions in the voices dub actors. For example my favorite anime is Re:Zero and I watched both seasons dubbed and still balled my eyes out during certain parts of the show. As far I'm concerned if the dub still allowed me to feel what I'm supposed to feel when watching a scene in an anime then it has done its job, and that's good enough for me honestly. With all that being said I think people should watch anime in which ever way that they prefer dubbed, or subbed. I do hate the seeing the censorship that some of these Western dub studios are forcing in however. I think AI dubs with the original Japanese VAs would be cool as long as it doesn't replace real people doing dubs also. I think the best thing would be to let the normal dubs and AI dubs to exist along side each other, and let each viewer choose which dub they want to watch in for themselves.

[@Xavi1437]

Thanks for you point of view! As for me, I think this is one of those themes where we can say little about the future. AI seems like an amazing technology, definitely... but so did Virtual Reality (Occulus, and other similar VR techs). I can still remember the good (and old) days when marketing people claimed that VR would break the world until it, just, did not. I believe the same applies to AI. It apparently seems to be a "be-all end-all" type of software, but I am in the side that believes that AI won't be a new revolution. It may be able to slightly help Microsoft's Bing and Google's search engines, but I doubt it's going to get much further than that in different fields (e.g. Anime or Translations). However, AI may definitely help translators do their job PROPERLY, to which I agree with your position.

[@otakuspirit]

I think a lot of people can agree on the translation side of things, but I'm fine with the disagreement on dub side of things in this video. Me personally, I question it as well as conveying emotion is a BIG ask of AI. A performance is something only humans can do, and asking an AI to have emotions in speech is something that will probably take many years to be believable.

[@artfire28]

I'm so done for hearing identity and gender politics on something beloved like MCU, DCEU and anime and this medium is my source of escapism from reality. I'm all in for AI and let those who tainted the art with their dubbing get off from what they're supposed to do.

[@kathycoleman4648]

Those who have polluted art with activism must be taught to be careful what they wished for when they demanded that "The personal is political."

[@polishedpebble4111]

Hearing how you'd sound in different languages would be wild too.

[@ryanhansell2082]

I still like the american-style voice actors compared to the Japanese powder Parts generally Geisel have a little deeper voices and I think that's good for an American audience

[@17th_Colossus]

Agreed. I’m sick of these localizers pushing their personal views on my entertainment. Translate the text, don’t re-write it! AI translated anime can’t come soon enough. Until then, fansubs are much better than “official” translation.

[@SixofQueens]

I see where there isn't a contradiction in your views of AI generation in the two spheres, in fact it seems clear as day to me. For dubs/subs, the AI puts power back into the hands of the original creators. For AI art, it takes power away from those creators. Simple as that.

[@otakuspirit]

Well said!!!! My brother and myself have debated many times on our podcast about the desire for Japan to take hold of their own distribution. Host it themselves, sub it themselves, and distribute it in a way that all funding goes back to them. It's sort of the idea of taking out the middleman.

[@ViRiXDreamcore]

I personally enjoy dubs and would love AI dubs, but they do have a ways to go. You’ve seen the AI anime dub clips that have shown up? They’re not bad. The translation vs. interpretation thing is indeed tricky. I enjoyed Hyperdimension Neptunia WAY more when it was translated by ZNISA. With IFI, it’s more accurate but way more bland. Granted, comedy and colloquialisms are a lot trickier and if I have to keep reading translator notes for jokes to land, then the joke didn’t land and it’s no longer a comedy.

[@CCJ1998]

What I think Ai dubbed Animes would benefit are the animes that have no hope of ever getting dubbed. Sports animes like Major, Yowamushi Pedal, Eyeshield 21 or the last season of Oofuri. Or even older titles that probably won't ever get dubbed because they aren't HD. I can see more risk being taken on titles like these to receive an AI dub. The Major money stuff will probably remain human voiced.

[@kobunnight]

Adjective placement in English doesn't really make sense in hindsight, but it's an amazing tool for adding suspense, humor, and subverting expectations in writing. And it's not like you _can't_ introduce a subject in English and then explain it, it's just not how most english speakers use the language currently. As a tool for communication, how a language is used dictates its effectiveness; that's why languages continue to evolve to meet the needs of those who use it or misuse it.

[@ltxr9973]

I have never thought of that! That would be extremely cool! There are a few people in the localization industry that would deserve to lose their job anyway.

[@theburnedman..]

You have no idea how right you were that’s just happened couple weeks ago

[@jhyarellesilver8397]

I whole heartedly approve. Specially if we don't have to suffer woke BS that does not belong there in the firs place or the offensively atrocious "for the modern audience" dialogues wokealizers force feed us.

[@zheydhan665]

With all that said, Imagine how much rough we got it in Latin america as we rely on English translations to make our own 💀

[@oosnajjar]

I hope to watch dubbed anime with original sound, containing the emotions and spirit, instead of READING subs all the time. there is no anime dub industry in my language :(

[@coleburns5497]

Honestly I’m hoping for this to come, I really think inflections, tone, etc. Will probably be reaching in 5-6 years. Lol

[@Murillos1]

The future is now, fellow old gentlemen.

[@filipzietek5146]

Animation is timed for orignal language, structure, exclemation etc. Dub will never work as good because it will either try to fit it and suffer from it or ignore it which will make it feel visibly off.

[@sheven18]

Can Ai dub Ghost Stories where people would want to watch it?

[@cynx9228]

Just pay the people whos voice you use to dub. AI Usage needs Rules.

[@filipzietek5146]

Just include damn translation notes, classic literature alwayes did that.

[@mikemx92]

Get ready for a video on this channel made by an AI

[@otakuspirit]

I've considered it lol....... There's plenty popping up on twitch already.

[@SeismicWolf]

So Chris is going to make a Video Now?

[@CommanderZx2]

I don't think we'll see automated dubs being a thing for a very long time. Those AI voices just aren't capable of properly conveying emotions. I can definitely see them using AI for subbing though. They'll probably run it through an AI and then have a QA person spend 5 mins looking over the text to look for anything out of place.

[@zarbi64]

I want Kaiba og voice in english yugioh

[@alex_zetsu]

A bigger question than "if you can replace them with AI" is "would you want to?"

[@makotonarukami7468]

I'm sure we will get a bit more anime dubbed with AI and not be limited to shows that get dubbed with scheduling voice actors.

[@chintapallisubash6769]

Death note is best dubbed anime

[@otakuspirit]

Take this chip.. AND EAT IT!!

[@SeismicWolf]

Odd way to say Black Lagoon but Okay...

[@ConnorDRowe]

Please correct me if I am wrong, I would be fine with someone correcting me. But it is totally fine for you to not like dubs. You can like what you like. But, just don't watch dubs if you don't like them. Don't make an an ai alienate any country other than Japan dub an anime. That's just not okay. It just seems a bit over the top. Again, I am totally fine being corrected

[@Vagolyk]

I agree, you are a hypocrite. Never the less I understand, thatthe animation itself is a bigger venture today than the voiceacting behind it. Obviously I'd rather have the technology to "learn Kung Fu" in a minute to enjoy the original performance. AI fonds new, unexpected ways to work around things, but meaning will probably be lost in translation, and matching the lip movement will still invite changes.

[@Bell_420]

this will ruin dubbed anime, it's not like they are better voice actors in Japan just cuz they are Japanese. All this will do is add shitty AI jank to what would have been a fine normal dub, not to mention you are putting a lot of voice actors out of work. They already fail to sub anime properly they will never manage to make this work better than normal dubs.

[@otakuspirit]

Yeah, the putting people out of work part is the biggest pain in it. However, like I said, it's a sad reality of the world. Just like with AI animation putting animators out of work. I'm not happy about it at all, just accept that it's an inevitability. And that inevitability leads to one thing: Voice actors lose their jobs, but audio and AI engineers gain jobs. It's a shift.

[@Bell_420]

@@otakuspirit you missed the part where I said that Japanese VCs are no better than English VCs to me, and all it would do is add a shitty AI film over what could have been good voice acting. AI may get to the point where we can't tell it's even AI but I don't think it's here yet, and if they start trying to do this now it's gonna fuck up a lot of good dubs if you ask me, plus if they start doing this then dub companies will most likely not be given permission to dub over a lot of the shows coming out in the future, and all we will have is the AI dub. All that will do is end up pushing a lot of people away from dub and anime in general. AI voice acting may be a good idea from a money-making perspective, but from a consumer perspective, this looks like it will only hurt dub quality and will mostly have other unforeseen consequences. But you are right sadly this is the new way art, in general, is going all we can do is best adapt to it and try to keep it great. Im not too worried about it just against it.

[@atomixfang]

As a sub purist I rather hear the original intention of the director and or creator of the anime than some Western English translator who doesn't stick to the original work.

[@kathycoleman4648]

What I do not understand is why humanity is so eager to make jobs people actually enjoy, like writing, art, and voice acting, obsolete, rather than working on technologies to tackle the tasks no one wants. It seems very counter intuitive.

[@otakuspirit]

Sadly all jobs are necessary and even some enjoy difficult or challenging ones. I'd desire for a world everyone can do what they desire, but in the end it becomes a change to replacing one job with another. For instance, an AI generated dub would replace a voice actor with an coder, and pay more to the original voice bank.