Sarah Moon presents an overview of the recent ingress of AI-generated content in the world of anime localization, including AI translations, typesetting, AI-generated captions, and AI-generated dubs.
AI is a can of worms that I’m not going to get into here (yet), but I’ll plant my flag with the following: AI is useful when it helps enable creativity by reducing tedium. Conversely, it’s not fit for purpose to convey precise meaning or intent in language. Based on the way the technology currently works, the best translations will always be produced by humans.
Image from the 2016 NHK documentary 終わらない人宮崎駿 (Never-Ending Man, Hayao Miyazaki), via YouTube
