Ever since Amazon’s announcement of using generative AI betas for Amazon Prime, including anime dubs and show recaps, the streaming platform has failed to keep it as a mainstay due to public outcry. A major reason – they’re hilariously awful.
AI Beta Dubs and Banana Fish
In late November, Amazon added AI dubs entirely to Banana Fish, No Game, No Life and Vinland Saga. (An odd case for Vinland Saga, which has already been dubbed twice prior) Barely lasting for a week, all AI dubs were quietly removed on December 4th after the Banana Fish dub quickly became a laughing stock on the internet.
The dub is admittedly pretty funny to watch. Several clips have already been shared of character introductions and thrilling moments, having their energy completely drained from literally lifeless, unnatural acting. One of the better laugh-out-loud moments, including an early character death, was transformed into audio you’d hear from the Room.
It has an almost similar vibe to underfunded, so-bad-it’s-good early 80s dubs such as the Big Green Dragon Ball Z dub or the AudioWork’s Garzey’s Wing. Only in this case, there is literally nothing behind the voice booth. A preview of what Amazon considers (or failed to check) a standard for dubs of the future.
It’s a shame that Banana Fish will have this attached to its legacy, considering that series that has never had a dub prior, despite how formative it was as an openly queer shojo manga in the 80s-90s.
AI Recaps and Fallout Season 2
Alongside Amazon’s AI announcements were AI-written and edited video recaps with the first bundle implemented for Fallout, The Rig, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Upload, and Bosch to promote their newest seasons.
These were also removed only a couple of days later due to fan backlash.
The recap made for Fallout is bizarrely inaccurate. Key details, including continuity, time frames, and even the motivations of the series leads, are completely misrepresented. Even misinterpreting the ending of the first season by calling The Ghoul’s (Walter Goggins) offer to Lucy (Ella Purnell) a “join or die situation” instead of the turning point of both characters finally collaborating to find their shared nemesis.
The most disturbing part of the recap isn’t just that there isn’t anyone behind the production of the recaps, but that there clearly weren’t any proofreaders either. Corporations and UX/UI platforms, Prime Video included, usually go through many steps to approve changes to a digital release, but in this case, the product was hurried. Not to catch fans up, but to use its subscribers as a human testing ground as soon as possible.
Conclusion
We have to ask ourselves an important question: what if the Banana Fish dub was good? What if the Fallout recap was completely accurate to the show? How would we respond then?
The difference between the mockery of classic dubs and this is the total absence of human labor. For as infuriating as misadapted series could be under flawed creatives, they are still people who should be paid for their work. Good or bad. AI might be in a funny-bad era now, but the technology is only going to improve and take over more aspects of creative processes and our lives.
A 95% generative AI production, Twins Hinahima, was made earlier in the year. Crunchyroll used ChatGPT to translate Necronomico last summer. Disney invested $1 billion into OpenAI last week…
The entire creative industry is on the chopping block, and the line that needs to be crossed to lay more people off is simply our approval. The moment billionaire corporations are given the A-OK to comfortably release one product without any actors, animators, writers, etc, then we’ll lose them for several more.
Spreading memes and laughing at these rushed, desperate attempts to push AI on us is a fight on its own. We’re not just punking on AI being bad at what we can already do, but also the silly prospect that companies like Amazon will ever truly replace us.
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