In 2022, the combined total global revenue from box office sales and streaming was over 100 billion dollars. A significant part of those sales were from international markets, meaning that the audiences who watched them were most likely watching a dubbed version of it.
Companies such as Deepdub, ElevenLabs, Respeecher, Google, Microsoft, Papercup, IBM, and many more are now exploring the possibility of using AI to automatically generate movie dubs. 
The technology for this is relatively new and has much room for improvement, however. When dubbing for movies or TV shows, there is the major problem of having the dub not start and finish in sync with the actor’s lips which creates a somewhat jarring effect at best and makes it very hard to follow the conversation at worst. Additionally, the stock voices used can, at times, sound unnatural.
The following will be read by ElevenLabs’ AI voice generator.
One thing that the models are generally good at is having a modulating pitch that can suit the topic at hand. Additionally, as shown with Suno’s open-source Bark model, cues can be used to mimic human speech, such as using a long dash to create hesitation or using brackets to prompt the voice to laugh, sigh, gasp, etc., and capitalization can be used to add emphasis to certain words.
Ideally, these models should be able to clone the voice of the celebrities playing the actors to create a more seamless dub, which many models can now do. 
AI dubbing can have many advantages; for example, it can expedite post-production and help ensure synchronization between the movement of the actors’ lips and the spoken words, enhancing the viewing experience for foreign viewers. Additionally, as Cliff Weitzman – CEO and Founder of Speechify – wrote about dubbing, “AI dubbing helps preserve the authenticity of the original actors’ performances, which might be lost in typical voiceover work.”
While the technology still has some way to go, it is undeniable that AI dubbing will revolutionize the movie industry.
Thank you for listening to the Old and the New and see you next episode.