Crunchyroll has run into some controversy lately thanks to the apparent use of artificial intelligence in some of its subtitles. Recently, fans discovered that one anime seemingly had subtitles that seemed a little suspicious. Arriving as a part of the anime adaptation of Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, various lines spoken by characters had titles that began with “Chat GPT said,” leaving many anime fans’ feathers ruffled. Reportedly, the streaming service is aware of the matter and is looking into how this happened while stating that this might not have happened how fans thought.
Videos by ComicBook.com
According to outlet Anime Corner, a source at Crunchyroll confirmed that the AI subtitles were produced by a third party, seemingly violating a vendor’s agreement that the two companies had. The source also stated that the platform has begun an investigation to see how this happened and what measures can be taken moving forward. Artificial intelligence has been a controversial subject in anime and the entertainment world as the technology has progressed in recent years. Crunchyroll has stated in the past that they are still exploring avenues for artificial intelligence though the CEO had initially discouraged the idea that A.I. would play a heavy hand in the creative process.
Crunchyroll x A.I.
In a previous interview with Forbes, Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini shot down the idea of aritificial intelligence being used for subtitling, stating the following, “We are not considering AI in the creative process, including our voice actors. We consider them to be creators because they are contributing to the story and plot with their voice.” Forbes added that Crunchyroll stands with creators “striving to maintain authenticity in production” and will use AI and machine learning for its “back-end systems to improve content discoverability, recommendations, and personalization, but only as ways to improve the customer experience and not touching on the content itself.”
The anime industry has been fighting back against the use of artificial intelligence, especially when it comes to voice actors. Many of the biggest voices in the industry have united recently to make sure they don’t lose their jobs in the face of the evolving tech. On the directing side of the equation, we here at ComicBook.com recently spoke with Abel Gongora, director of Dandadan, about how anime creators were actively thinking of ways to fight back, “We are talking a lot about AI, and I thought that was really cool, to push the opposite way, something AI is not able to do.” On the flip side, there has been some controversial use of A.I. aside from the recent subtitles, with the live-action Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan creating its entire soundtrack using the tech.
An official statement has yet to be released by Crunchyroll at the moment but when/if an announcement should drop, we’ll be sure to let our readers know.
Want to stay in the loop when it comes to the intermingling of artificial intelligence and the anime world? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook.com for the latest updates on Crunchyroll and hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime or hit us up in the comments.
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Pixar -
Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm
