In March, Amazon announced that its streaming service would start including “AI-aided dubbing on licensed movies and series that would not have been dubbed otherwise.” In late November, some AI-generated English and Spanish dubs of anime popped up, including dubs for the Banana Fish series and the movie No Game No Life: Zero.
In videos shared by users, some of the AI-generated voice work was eerily deadpan. In one telling video Ash Lynx from Banana Fish tries to awaken a child who has been shot while speaking in a detached, dry tone. “Don’t leave me please,” he states like a robot before confronting someone without any anger in his voice. The person responds in a similarly emotionless manner.
In addition to anime viewers complaining about the quality of the dubs, some expressed anger over voice actors being passed over in favor of subpar generative AI.
On Tuesday, Gizmodo reported that “several of the English language AI dubs for anime such as Banana Fish, No Game No Life: Zero, and more have now been removed.” However, some AI-generated dubs remain as of this writing, including an English dub for the anime series Pet and a Spanish one for Banana Fish, Ars Technica has confirmed.
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