Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini says AI-generated subtitles are an area of heavy investment for the streaming service, maybe to the dismay of audiences.
Crunchyroll CEO Rahul Purini says A.I.-generated subtitles are an area that the streaming service is currently heavily investing in — perhaps to the dismay of some anime-viewing audiences.
Purini sat down with The Verge for an hour-long interview, where he discussed how Crunchyroll could become a more attractive option for anime fans. One solution was increased development in A.I.-generated subtitles, where Purini said, “A.I. is definitely something we think about at a lot of different workflows in the organization. Right now, one of the areas we’re very focused on testing is subtitling and our closed captioning where we go from speech to text. ‘How do we improve and optimize our processes where we can get the subtitles done in various languages across the world faster so that we can launch as close to the Japanese release as possible?'” he outlined. “So that’s definitely an area that we’re focused on.”
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Purini’s quote arose during a conversation about how he hoped to make Crunchyroll more viable than piracy, with one of piracy’s biggest selling points being that it’s free and sometimes also releases content faster than official services. He highlighted that fan desire to access anime as close to the Japanese release as possible was the motivation behind the development drive for A.I.-generated subtitles.
Naturally, A.I. subtitling proves contentious, with many likely remembering the controversy surrounding The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons‘ debut episode. These subtitles were notoriously awkward — occasionally to the point of being nonsensical — and featured numerous grammar issues; Crunchyroll was forced to delete the episode following outrage by fans on social media, with many asking why they didn’t pay professionals instead. Many manga fans on social media also cite poor official translations as a motivator for piracy, with the United States being the #1 worst offender for piracy in the world. This conversation resurfaced following the arrest of two individuals in Japan for leaking early content of Weekly Shonen Jump manga.
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With the rapid growth of A.I., translation quality may certainly meet fan expectations in the near future. Nevertheless, many continue to argue that the nuance in language is best captured by human experience, creating a tradeoff for Crunchyroll between cost and continuing to expand to the hundreds of millions of anime fans worldwide.
Source: The Verge
Eugen Boglaru is an AI aficionado covering the fascinating and rapidly advancing field of Artificial Intelligence. From machine learning breakthroughs to ethical considerations, Eugen provides readers with a deep dive into the world of AI, demystifying complex concepts and exploring the transformative impact of intelligent technologies.
