March 5, 2025
Amazon’s Prime Video is implementing AI-assisted dubbing as part of a pilot program, aimed at increasing the accessibility of its international content to a broader audience. The service’s announcement on Wednesday detailed an initial focus on 12 licensed movies and series that previously lacked dubbing support.
Specifically, the initial rollout will provide English and Latin American Spanish dubbing options for titles such as “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.”
The introduction of AI in this area comes at a time of broader discussion throughout the creative industries. Union leaders have raised alarms about the potential impact of AI on artists, who fear the technology’s effects on their livelihoods. The role of AI was a major factor in the 2023 Hollywood strikes, where actors and writers voiced concerns that studios would use generative AI to replace the work of paid creatives.
With over 200 million global customers, Prime Video has noted rising interest from viewers seeking content from diverse origins. However, in contrast to some competitors, Prime Video emphasizes its approach combines artificial intelligence with the expertise of human localization professionals to ensure quality control.
In a related move, YouTube expanded its AI-powered auto-dubbing capability to “hundreds of thousands of channels” in its Partner Program in December of the previous year. These channels focus on knowledge and informational content. YouTube’s system generates dubs in eight languages for English content, including French, German, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, Indonesian, Japanese, and Portuguese. Currently, non-English videos in these languages typically receive only English dubs. YouTube acknowledged that this new technology “won’t always be perfect.”
In another development, Lumiere Ventures, along with AI startup ElevenLabs, announced a collaboration to recreate the voice of the late French voice actor Alain Dorval. Dorval was known for dubbing Sylvester Stallone for nearly five decades. With the support of Dorval’s family, this project aims to preserve the voice French audiences associate with Stallone’s characters, following Dorval’s passing in February.
© 2025 AFP
