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Revolutionising content creation: YouTube tests AI-powered dubbing tool, Aloud
YouTube has unveiled plans to trial a pioneering tool aimed at enabling creators to effortlessly dub their videos into multiple languages using artificial intelligence. The announcement was made at the highly anticipated VidCon conference last Thursday. In an exciting development, YouTube has collaborated with AI-powered dubbing service, Aloud, a promising start-up nurtured by Google‘s in-house incubator, Area 120.
This year saw YouTube augment its platform with support for multi-language audio tracks, an innovation that empowers creators to dub their new and pre-existing videos. The introduction of this feature has significantly broadened creators’ reach, facilitating the transmission of their content to an expansive international audience. The company reported to TechCrunch that as of June 2023, creators have dubbed over 10,000 videos in more than 70 languages, reflecting the immense potential of this ground-breaking feature.
Before the introduction of Aloud, creators had to painstakingly collaborate with third-party dubbing providers to craft their audio tracks—a process often bogged down by high costs and time constraints. The advent of Aloud eliminates these hurdles, enabling creators to dub their videos free of additional charges.
Aloud was initially launched by Google in 2022. The ingenious product works by transcribing a video, translating the content, and subsequently generating a dubbed version. Creators are afforded the opportunity to scrutinise and edit the transcription prior to the creation of the dubbed version, ensuring maximum accuracy and authenticity.
In a statement to VidCon attendees, YouTube’s VP of Creator Products, Amjad Hanif, revealed that the tool is currently being tested by hundreds of creators. YouTube plans to expand the usage of this innovative tool to its entire creator community in the near future. Although Aloud currently supports English, Spanish, and Portuguese, plans are underway to incorporate more languages, including Hindi and Bahasa Indonesian.
Hanif noted that YouTube is committed to enhancing the audio translation experience. The company intends to create translated audio tracks that closely mimic the creator’s voice, complete with rich expression and accurate lip sync.
In confirmation to TechCrunch, YouTube disclosed future plans to leverage generative AI technology. This would enable Aloud to roll out advanced features such as voice preservation, improved emotion transfer, and lip reanimation, thus elevating the dubbing experience to unprecedented levels.
