YouTube launches its long-awaited AI-powered auto-dubbing tool

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It has now arrived about a year and a half after YouTube first let it be known that it would be available. The company posted the news together with several example videos that were equipped with self-dubbing (which we will discuss later). It is currently possible for “hundreds of thousands of” information or education YouTube Partner Programme channels, with a wider expansion in the future.

YouTubers can opt to have their English-titled videos translated into the said languages including French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese or Spanish. But then, a video is in any of those languages and it cannot have an English dubbing. It should be an automated process and creators can view these before a video is uploaded. Auto-dubbed videos are listed in the YouTube Studio under the ‘Languages’ tab and these videos are labelled as auto-dubbed.

The company included three sample videos with dubbing in its announcement, two of which were translated from French to English and from Hindi to English, and one which had several dubbing options to test. The English translations, though faithful to the text, sound very AI-generated and stilted to me, my colleague Steve Dent tried French subtitles and had the same impression. However, an all-essential focus of the tool that I directly exposed through example videos was only the tool dubbing over narration instead of people speaking. The company shared the news alongside some example videos equipped with auto dubbing (which we’ll get into in a bit). The feature is available to “hundreds of thousands of” informational or educational YouTube Partner Program channels, with a broader rollout planned soon.

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Creators can have their English language videos dubbed into French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese or Spanish. A video in any of those languages can only have an English dubbing. The process should be automatic, and creators can preview them before a video goes live. Dubbed videos are available to watch in the YouTube Studio’s “languages” section, and come with an auto-dubbed label.

The company shared three example videos with dubbing in its announcement, two dubbed in English from French and Hindi, respectively, and one in English with a range of dubbing options to try. The English translations sound very AI-generated and stilted to me, though seemingly accurate, while my colleague Steve Dent tried the French dubbing and had a similar experience.

However, YouTube only shared examples of the tool dubbing over narration rather than people talking. I spent a while trying to find an example of a visibly chatty conversation with dubbing but came up empty — maybe AI dubbing might do poorly with quick speech or interruptions. It is said at the beginning of each YouTube post, that it is an innovation and that it will not always be effective.