In a world where following trends is critical, mega corporations are no exception to this rule. The big tech company Amazon, known primarily in the average household for e-shipping and subscription-based services, has been steadily buying into a sector that is emerging hot and fast: artificial intelligence. As more investors are funding expansion into this vast market, large corporations are fueling its exploration. Amazon is a key player in this push towards AI technology advancements, and is currently the primary cloud computing platform provider. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a leader in the pursuit of AI engineering partnerships.
Recently, Amazon has been the face of consumer retaliation due to their controversial use of AI dubbing for multiple pieces of media on their streaming platform Prime Video. The beloved anime show Banana Fish had hoards of fans begging for an English dub, and after a patient wait of several years, they finally got something. But it came with a huge catch—no voice actors were used.
For anime fans, voice acting performances are crucial to an anime’s success. Not only must the animation be eye catching, but the writing and audio must also be on par. The skill set of an anime voice actor is completely different from that of traditional Western media. Many fans online have even joked about the AI “performance” being so horrible they began to reminisce about old English dubs from the 80s. Users on Instagram claimed the dubbing was so awful that it made Banana Fish “completely unwatchable.” A character voice that lacks emotion and is completely devoid of vocal textures can immediately take a viewer out of the watching experience. Unfortunately for eager anime fanatics, the audio seemed to be generated from a standard voice model.
Currently, AWS offers Amazon Polly as a text-to-speech product that uses similar profitability systems as other AI models. Users can buy credits for each prompt, or corporate spaces can buy the service to use as a feature. With this technology already consumer ready, it would not come as a shock if they used similar methods in this endeavor to dub so many projects in such a short timeframe. Announced in March this year, Amazon began undertaking plans to “explore a new way to make series and movies more accessible and enjoyable” according to Raf Soltanovich, Vice President of technology at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. In late November, the anime dubs were released. However, these were not the first installments in this series of events. The initial statement said that twelve licensed movies and shows would be dubbed over in both English and Latin American Spanish. Movies El Cid: La Leyenda, Mi Mamá Lora, and Long Lost were explicitly named.
A common critique of the Banana Fish dub was not only the poor quality of the AI voice, but also the lack of consideration for the casting. The gang action series discusses serious issues and is an iconic piece of queer representation. Fans had been pushing for a dub not only to have an enjoyable English version, but also to support queer actors in real life. LGBTQ+ themes are followed throughout the show, and by denying queer-identifing actors the opportunity to share the message, Amazon has essentially deleted all humanity from the plot.
Outside of Banana Fish, the anime No Game, No Life: Zero and Vinland Saga have both become victims of this new program. All of these anime have received both an English and Spanish AI dub. For No Game, No Life: Zero and Vinland Saga, these dubs are not their first English editions. Vinland Saga already holds two different versions of English dubs on Netflix and Crunchyroll, two popular streaming alternatives for Prime Video.
The threat of AI acting has been looming on the horizon, and this may be forecasting what the future of Hollywood or even worldwide media industries will look like soon. Early on, Crunchyroll also began using AI subtitles, which resulted in numerous complaints from fans.
As Amazon tests the waters of AI technology in creative projects, the reception of their customers is a deciding factor of continuation. After instant backlash, Prime Video was quick to remove the English dubs, although the Spanish ones still remain. A respected voice actor who specializes in anime dubbing, Damien Mills (Dragon Ball Super, My Hero Academia), called Amazon to take action on Twitter. Mills demanded, “Fix this, or I personally will not work with you as an actor EVER AGAIN on any of your dubs. This is not ‘the future.’ This is erasure.”
To the thousands of actors, audio engineers, animators working in the industry, having to compete with AI for their livelihoods can be incredibly bizarre. It is speculated that Amazon went this route in order to cut production costs, but for a company with a market cap of $2.5 trillion according to CNN Business, the price of hiring even a fairly hefty production team would not make a dent. The usual wage of a professional voice actor is around $200-$500 an hour, but anime voice actors already make significantly less. On average, an independent voice actor may earn around $48.17 an hour as reported by ZipRecruiter. Though it is a time consuming and a slightly costly task, the end result is usually incredibly rewarding. Fans deeply appreciate the efforts and continue to pledge their support to streaming providers.
But this isn’t a new issue. Following this media outrage, several petitions and calls for stricter rules against AI in the voice acting industry have resurfaced. During the Oscars award season, actor Adrien Brody won Best Actor for his performance in The Brutalist (2024). Controversy erupted after it was revealed that the filmmakers used AI to “perfect” Brody’s Hungarian accent. While this has been a gray area, many people felt like a line had been crossed. It seems that this explosion of protest has never died down as big companies and studios continue to comply with loopholes in the already loose protections provided for actors.
While there are clearly nuances within the subject, Amazon’s use of AI in creative spaces has resulted in backlash that gives their company an undeniably negative reputation. This is so much more than just voices for anime characters; it may very well extend into compromising other forms of human artistry, expression, and passion.Readers who wish to support voice actors can do so signing petitions such as these: https://www.change.org/p/voice-actors-need-proper-protection-from-ai-in-the-voice-acting-industry
