Prime Video and its controversial use of artificial intelligence: an analysis of what voice actors lose by replacing their voices

“AI dubbing is becoming more and more common on Prime Video, especially with Korean dramas. Series like ‘My man is a cupid’, ‘Field al amor’ and ‘El Latino de mi corazón’ have this same ‘quality’ of acting. It’s an insult… I have no words…”, says X user and Chilean translator, Cristóbal Sepúlveda in a ‘tweet’ that captured more than 8 thousand “like” reactions.

“It is impossible for a machine to interpret the emotions of a character as an actor would, ever. They are totally human. (…) And people are not stupid, they realize that,” says dubbing director and YouTuber Javier Jugo. “They can use voice filters, which are placed on top of the actors’ voices to separate them in editing. Now, what does scare us? The fact that some distributors, basically people, who do not see the work of dubbing as an art and do not care about the result, prefer to acquire this type of software and avoid hiring real actors to save money.

Prime Video’s AI

Using artificial intelligence to perfect the algorithm of the catalog of series and movies, as Netflix does, is a managerial decision, but using automation to replace human work is a concern. As of last year, Prime Video offered a number of language translation options under the Dialogue Boost label, as The Hollywood Reporter reported.

“Dialogue Boost analyzes the original audio of a movie or series and intelligently identifies points where dialogue may be difficult to hear over the music and background effects. Speech patterns are then isolated and the audio is enhanced to make the dialogue clearer. “This AI-based approach offers targeted enhancement of portions of spoken dialogue, rather than general amplification in the center channel of a home theater system,” Prime Video explained in a statement on its official website.

Anyone who enters the platform will notice that Korean dramas no longer have the Dialogue Boost option. Something similar happens with series like “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” and “The Marvelous Miss Maisel,” as well as the movie “The Big Sick.” In these titles, Prime Video still offers the option of artificial intelligence for English translations, but this feature is merely decorative, since the real voices of the actors in that language remain original. Furthermore, in a Spanish-speaking country, English-speaking translations are not needed.

How much does a voice actor earn?

“It is not new that studios are using artificial intelligence,” says Víctor Luperdi, CEO of Torre A Doblaje Perú, a renowned recording studio and school for dubbing actors. “In January, I attended a services fair in Miami and there were 9 dubbing companies that worked solely with AI. A new stage is coming. However, these businesses, as well as what happened with Prime Video, show that the execution of the technology to replace human voices is still a little far from being of quality,” he adds.

“I attended a services fair in Miami and there were 9 dubbing companies that worked only with AI. A new stage is coming”

Victor Luperdi dubbing actor and CEO of the recording studio Torre A Doblaje

Artificial intelligence is fed by the voices of the actors, which are a resource to have a base of emotions. Dubbing work considers various tones of voice, inflections and performing arts work in general. For this reason, dubbing studios can charge their clients from $9 or up to $85 per “loop”, a metric of words and times used in the world of dubbing.

As discussed with other dubbing actors in Peru, if the metric is equivalent to a seven-word phrase with silences and reactions of the characters (without words, such as a yawn or a sigh), the actor could charge 1 sol for “loop”. However, for a number of seven loops, the gain amounts to 30 soles. This is just an average, since each company operates with different payments to actors. In addition, the amount varies depending on whether it is an independent actor or a dubbing studio.

Use of artificial intelligence in the arts

With the controversy surrounding the strikes against the use of AI in Hollywood last year, platforms are wary of making abrupt replacements in the entertainment industry. As if that were not enough, other countries are far from having regulations on the subject, but Spain makes the difference. The Spanish dubbing guild has a clause in its employment contracts that “prohibits the use of artistic input from actors and actresses for use in artificial intelligence,” explains dubbing actor Víctor Luperdi.

“What are the limits of artificial intelligence? That the identity and image rights of people for their original works be respected,” explains Erick Iriarte, expert in digital law. “In streaming, users watch an average of 1 million hours of content per minute, speaking of the global total. Taking into account the training of an AI, its level of quality and if the users participate, I would venture to say that an artificial intelligence could be trained in about six months or a year,” he adds.

In a dubbing job, there are two important parties, the language translators and the voice interpreters or dubbing artists. “Both have rights related to copyright, which means that they earn a percentage for each transmission of the series or films where their work appears. If a studio eliminates professionals from the equation and replaces them with artificial intelligence, it will have greater profit,” he adds.

Why does Prime Video keep the Dialogue Boost option? It is seen in some titles, but it is imperceptible. The question remains whether the platform is training any artificial intelligence to use in the future, while the guild of voice actors and other artists hope that human interpretation and sensitivity can do more than mere technology.