Anime has made a massive mark on the entertainment world in the past decade. From being relatively lesser known to being globally released in theatres and setting box office records, the anime industry has seen astonishing growth.
But many people do not wish to watch anime in Japanese (yes, surprising), and would want to watch it without having to constantly keep an eye on the subtitles. The alternative is to wait for an English dub, most popular anime have English dubs.
But what if we want to head deeper? Most of the world does see English as a universal connecting language, but what if they want to watch anime in their own language? This is not strange, for instance, Doraemon has been released in dozens of languages across the world. So, how do we dub the anime without a lot of time, effort, and resources?
AI dubbing is a disaster waiting to happen
Amazon Prime Video has begun testing an AI-driven dubbing program; they want to expand the influence and attraction of anime to people from all corners of the world. This marks a major shift in how anime is enjoyed; it could grow to be on par with the likes of Hollywood.
It is extremely difficult to find a whole voice actor cast to dub the entire anime into a different language, not to mention multiple. But this convenience comes at a huge cost. The reason that the voice actors are praised and acclaimed is because they are able to accurately and humanly portray the emotions of the characters.
Major Anime Streamer Amazon Prime Video Begins A.I. Dubbing Pilot Program
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They do this after understanding their character, the situation the character is in, and how they would react. But instead of all this (not to mention the experience and training it takes to be a voice actor), using an AI program to replicate the original dialogues in a different language will be lacking soul.
Is the character happy, sad, or confused? Are they distraught, trying to put on a brave face? The emotions range from simple to extremely complex, and AI is unable to do that as of yet.
It’s not just the voice actors who are at risk
But therein lies the problem, although AI cannot do it right now, who is to say that it cannot in five years? AI is swiftly taking over the world, and convenience is increasing massively.
This means once this is successful, instead of relying on human voice actors who need to be paid regularly, studios would rather purchase the artificial intelligence program to generate different voices in multiple languages.
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The impact of AI dubbing goes far beyond voice actors. There is an entire food chain and a set working to the industry. A shift to artificial voices means massive job losses across the anime industry, including for sound engineers, casting directors, talent recruiters, trainers, etc.
Recording studios will become a thing of the past, and everything that had to be done with the collective efforts of hundreds of people can be done effectively and quickly with the help of AI. But how far do we need to go? Where will we stop, and when will we understand that AI shouldn’t go after the livelihood of people and should be used as a tool and an aid?
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
