Amazon’s Prime Video Tests AI-Assisted Dubbing
It would only provide English and Latin American Spanish dubs for now.
Prime Video is already one of the biggest streaming platforms out there, with over 200 million subscribers—second only to Netflix, which has over 300 million. But lately, Amazon seems eager to close that gap, and it’s betting on AI to make it happen.
It started with AI-powered features like "X-Ray Recaps" that help viewers catch up on shows and movies. Now, Prime Video is experimenting with AI-assisted dubbing. This new feature will allow select licensed films and series to be enjoyed in additional languages, specifically English and Latin American Spanish.
But since the feature is still in testing, only 12 titles will support AI-assisted dubbing for now. This includes titles like El Cid: La Leyenda, Mi Mamá Lora, and Long Lost.
As with many AI advancements though, this raises concerns among professionals whose jobs AI aims to replicate. To address this, Amazon has clarified that AI dubbing will only be applied to content that doesn’t already have professional voice dubs. Additionally, the company is combining AI with human localization professionals to ensure quality control.
On one hand, this could benefit studios and audiences by making content more widely accessible without adding significant costs and Amazon could tap into a formerly unreachable audience even easier with this. On the other hand, it raises the question—what happens to the professionals in the field?
AI-generated content once seemed crude, with stiff voices and awkward visuals. But as an artist myself, I can’t help but wonder—is AI’s dominance inevitable, or will we find a balance? Only time will tell.
Louis Eriakha
