There are softwares with AI to perform dubbing. It is only necessary to place a voice as an example so that the program detects the sound and automatically begins to play voices in the desired language.
But the new strategy of the large streaming platforms, Berdonés assures, will bring with it a devastating impact on the entire dubbing and subtitling industry. Mexico would be one of the nations affected by this movement, producing 70% of the audiovisual material in Spanish seen globally, according to data from the Council of Mexican Companies in the Dubbing Industry (CEMID).
The country has positioned itself as a reference for dubbing and subtitling internationally, because it fits into what is called ‘neutral Spanish’, that is, a language that can be understood in any Spanish-speaking nation, added to the genius that characterizes to the voice actors. The examples are vast: The Simpsons, Don Gato and his Gang, Dragon Ball Z, Disney movies and even video games like Halo, which remained dubbed only by Mexican talent for more than a decade.
The CEMID estimates that this sector has a value of more than 60 million dollars, in addition to receiving an annual investment of 7 million for its maintenance and improvement. In addition to the fact that it generates around 1,000 direct jobs and approximately 6,000 indirect jobs.
For José Iñesta, CEO of Pixilatl, an association dedicated to promoting the creation and dissemination of graphic and audiovisual content and narratives in Mexico, the streaming strategy was a step that was expected in the industry. Entertainment companies invest significant amounts in dubbing because it is one of the great keys for content to migrate to different parts of the world, and even for it to be successful in some region, which is why the use of AI in This item is positioned as an option to reduce costs.
The large streaming companies are in a time of financial pressure and are constantly rethinking their business model, which has led them to see Artificial Intelligence as an ally of financial savings; However, the use of this technology has unleashed a problem: intellectual property.
“If entertainment companies use someone’s voice and they have not authorized it, they can sue the company and this is the challenge that is now happening in Hollywood. The big studios want to have the rights to the voice, gestures, body, etc., for 100 years, but the actors refuse that. Studios try to take advantage of AI, although the creative industry does not consider it fair because they do not agree with their body, face, voice and so on being exploited without paying or even just wanting to give them 25 cents. dollar for the exploitation of intellectual property of various contents,” says the director of the Pixelatl association, which has an alliance with HBO Max, Netflix, Universal and Amazon Prime, among others.
AI is a tool with great potential to streamline processes and reduce expenses, but it still needs to be polished, especially in topics that involve human emotions. For Iñesta, even though video-on-demand companies apply AI to dubbing and subtitles of series and movies, the voices are still felt.‘stiff and fake’, Therefore, the issue of talent ‘replacement’ is still distant; However, the challenge and implications that this technology will have within the industry and at a social level remain on the table.
For this reason, the creative industry in Mexico, such as animators, actors, dubbing talent and scriptwriters, among others, have begun to look for options to protect their work in the face of the accelerated development of new technologies. The Pixelatl Association has begun taking courses on intellectual property with lawyers and notaries public to learn how to protect their rights in the face of a new technological landscape. However, he considers that the Mexican government must begin to get involved in technology regulation issues, especially when the country reports a ‘nearshoring’ of audiovisual productions, since large entertainment companies have opted for Latin America and especially in Mexico. to develop projects that will feed their streaming catalogs.
“A few days ago there was an agreement with several countries on the use of AI and Mexico did not participate in those meetings. I would alert the authorities to be more active in these discussions because that is where we are going and it is not worth it that Mexico is lagging behind being the spearhead in translation and dubbing issues. We cannot be left behind and it is an area of opportunity for our country and for our government to be in the discussions and not be distracted by other things,” warns Iñesta in an interview with Expansión.
On November 2, 28 countries reached an international agreement that establishes an understanding on the opportunities and risks of AI, and the need for international collaboration. Among the nations that signed the alliance are the United States, Canada, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, as well as the European Union, among others.
The use of voice to create new content from Artificial Intelligence can scale to other industries. The world of music would be another of the markets that could be affected. Recently, it became a trend when users used the voice and lyrics of the singer Bad Bunny to create a new song. This fact highlighted the issue of intellectual property, since anyone can create a musical product based on said technology and place it as if it were a new musical proposal.
The singer, for his part, has asked his fans not to consume AI-based musical experiments, since the true value lies in the creativity of each artist.
AI is not entirely the solution
Artificial Intelligence is used to refine script details, as well as to render, that is, to finish editing a film. And although the application of this tool has been in production for some time and it is expected to have more applications, it has not yet managed to solve one of the industry’s challenges: getting out of creative stagnation.
The director of Pixelatl, which helps promote national independent audiovisual projects, admitted that the creative industry is at a point of creative paralysis, which led to thinking that AI could help get out of that state, but this has not resulted. shape. By asking the AI to create stories for scripts, what is generated are highly used narratives in the industry, because it has the information poured on the internet and in what is published, so the only ones who continue to have the power and hope to break out of the stagnation are the people themselves, who at one point will find new disruptive narratives to bring to the screens.
This situation is visible in the audiovisual proposals that the large studios currently have. Cinemas have been flooded with remakes, sequels or prequels of stories that were blockbuster hits at the time. While the big superhero franchises cling to resuming the box office and streaming success they had less than five years ago, but which is now more complex because audiences are tired of these narratives. But this has only generated million-dollar losses for the companies.
“You tell Chat GPT, make me a script and the result is a replica of things that have already been told, it does not reveal anything new, surprising and in fact it is a topic that the industry is going through. For a long time we have been making the same content, sequels that already existed and that were successful at the time. We are not producing anything new. We do not produce the new SpongeBob, we continue producing seasons of SpongeBob SquarePants, The Simpsons, Toy Story, we continue with the same characters, parallel stories to these characters. There have been no new stories, new Star Wars, new Harry Potter, ideas and characters that disrupt the sector and it is these types of characters, who create mega trends, what the content business really needs urgently,” concludes Iñesta.