YouTube Launches AI-Powered Auto Dubbing Feature

YouTube introduces an AI-powered auto dubbing tool for informational and educational content, initially available to select channels.

YouTube has officially launched its AI-powered auto dubbing tool, a feature that was first announced a year and a half ago. This innovative service is now accessible to hundreds of thousands of informational or educational channels within the YouTube Partner Program, with plans for a wider rollout in the near future.

Creators now have the ability to dub their English language videos into several languages including French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. Conversely, videos in these languages can be dubbed into English. The dubbing process is designed to be automatic, allowing creators to preview the dubbed content before making it live.

Dubbed videos can be found in the ‘languages’ section of YouTube Studio, clearly labeled as auto-dubbed. YouTube has provided examples of this feature in action, showcasing videos dubbed from French and Hindi into English, as well as an English video with multiple dubbing options. While the translations are accurate, they carry the hallmark of AI generation, sounding somewhat unnatural. This observation was echoed by a colleague who tested the French dubbing.

It’s important to note that the examples provided by YouTube focus on dubbing over narration rather than dialogue between people. This limitation might be due to the challenges AI faces with faster speech or overlapping conversations. YouTube acknowledges that the technology is in its early stages and may not be flawless.