Summary
YouTubehas rolled out a groundbreaking new feature that automatically dubs video audio in different languages. In the past,YouTubehas made it possible to break the language barrier through subtitle features, making a lot of videos accessible for viewers around the world.
As YouTube evolves, the platform continues to introduce features that improve the experience of both viewers and content creators. One major update it did was introducestreaming features to compete with Twitch, which eventually led to YouTube becoming a viable platform for many streamers to thrive. At the same time, the platform is also continuously upgrading its accessibility features, especially those that will benefit foreign-language creators.
Recently,YouTube announced in a blog postthat it’s launching a dubbing feature that will automatically translate videos into different languages with the help of Google DeepMind and Google Translate. For example, if the video is in English, it can be dubbed into Portuguese and Japanese; and if the video’s in any foreign language, English will be an available option. According to YouTube, this will be available to hundreds of thousands ofchannels in the YouTube Partner Program.
How to Use YouTube’s New Auto Dubbing Feature
Content creators can find their dubbed videos via YouTube Studio’s Languages section, where they can have the option to approve and remove dubbed audio from their uploaded content. Those who aren’t sure if they have the feature can find it under Advanced Settings, where they can set whether they can review dubs before publishing or not. YouTube also stated that the auto-dubbing feature is still new and won’t always be perfect, so some translations might not be correct or the dubbed voice doesn’t accurately represent the original speaker.
The online reaction to YouTube’s new auto-dubbing feature has been a mixed bag. Many expressed that it’s a useful tool to watch foreign-language videos, especially Japanese and Korean content, without having to depend on subtitles. However, others were skeptical because of the use of AI to create the dubbing audio, with some claiming the technology is taking away jobs from people. AI has been a highly controversial topic in various industries as it’s being used to develop content that many deem unreliable and lacking in quality.YouTube has seen its fair share of AI-generated content with fake movie trailers, fanmade music videos using different artists' voices, and more.
Conversely, YouTube’s auto-dubbing feature could really be a game changer for content creators to reach a wider audience, especially once the platform refines the language technology. Of course,creators could also go the MrBeast routeand hire voice actors to manually dub over videos for international viewers.
