Amazon is experimenting with AI dubbing so Prime Video customers globally can experience content from other territories, gaining access more quickly and efficiently to licensed films and TV series. The company is using a hybrid “AI-aided” system in which localization professionals oversee the AI output to ensure quality control. Currently limited to a dozen movies and series that will be AI-dubbed in English and Latin American Spanish, the pilot will expand if the results prove popular with audiences. In December, Netflix experienced backlash against AI-assisted dubbing, with viewers complaining generative mouth adjustments looked unnatural.

“Increasingly, customers are eager to enjoy series and movies, regardless of where they are created,” Amazon explains in a news post. Raf Soltanovich, VP of technology at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said AI-aided dubbing will only be available on “titles that do not have conventional dubbing support.”

“We believe in improving customers’ experience with practical and useful AI innovation,” Soltanovich said.

Amazon claims more than 200 million Prime Video customers worldwide, and says making more language options available will allow them to “comfortably enjoy as many movies and series as possible, no matter where you live.”

“The new dubbing feature is the latest AI-powered tool that Amazon is trialing on Prime Video,” TechRadar writes, noting that “last year, it rolled out a new AI-based recommendation system for creating more personalized content suggestions as well as ‘X-Ray’ for recapping movies and shows.”

YouTube has been using AI-augmented dubbing since 2023, and offers a tool that lets creators translate videos. Both Netflix and Disney’s ESPN have also been using AI to enhance the streaming experience. TechRadar notes that ESPN is “pushing ahead with a new AI-powered football analyst for live commentary.”

“Meanwhile, in September, Meta announced it was testing an AI tool that automatically translates voices in Reels” using a system that syncs lips to match the dialogue, PetaPixel points out.

With the streaming success of cross-territorial hits — the most famous example of which may be Netflix’s Korean breakout “Squid Game” — “interest in dubbing and subtitling has grown significantly,” writes Deadline. “Netflix reported last year that more than 40 percent of viewing of Korean unscripted series was dubbed, with ‘regions like Brazil, Mexico, LATAM and EMEA showing a strong preference for dubbing over subtitles.’”