YouTube is bringing AI dubbing to creators

Translating and dubbing videos into other languages has always been a costly nightmare for solo creators. YouTube just announced at VidCon that it is bringing over the team from Aloud, an AI-powered dubbing service originally incubated inside Google's Area 120.

Automated tracks now, voice cloning in 2024

The tool keeps things relatively simple. Aloud first automatically transcribes your video, gives you a transcript to review and tweak, and then translates the text to generate the foreign audio track.

YouTube's Amjad Hanif told The Verge that the company is already testing the feature with hundreds of creators. According to spokesperson Jessica Gibby, Aloud currently supports English, Spanish, and Portuguese, with more languages rolling out down the line.

If you want to hear what it sounds like, the Amoeba Sisters channel already has a Spanish track live. Looking ahead, YouTube says it is working on matching the dub to the creator's actual voice, adding emotional expression, and syncing lip movements, with those upgrades slated for 2024.

Why it matters

For creators trying to build an international audience, dubbing has traditionally meant hiring voice actors and translators. Offering this natively inside YouTube basically eliminates that barrier overnight.

Folding internal incubator tech directly into YouTube feels like a very smart move to keep creators locked into Google's ecosystem. But robotic synthetic voices get old fast. The real test will be whether YouTube can actually deliver believable voice cloning and lip-syncing next year without falling straight into the uncanny valley.