The train moves and picks up speed. Artificial intelligence (AI) already makes it possible to dub actors in all languages while preserving their original voices. All of this is done in the name of the artistic integrity of the actors. But to the detriment of a profession that employs nearly 4,000 people in Quebec.
Posted at 6:00 am
See for yourself. Tom Cruise interviews Jack Nicholson in the French version of Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men, edited by the artificial intelligence experts at Flawless AI. But it is her voice with her intonations that we clearly recognize… quite well synchronized with the movement of her lips. The result, seen in their promotional video, is remarkable.
This company, which has stores in Hollywood and London, was co-founded by English producer and director Scott Mann, who notably directed the films Heist with Robert De Niro, Final Score and Fall, released in 2022, the first film by of to benefit from TrueSync technology.
Thanks to this software, Scott Mann was able to replace the 30 or so f*** words of the two leading actresses by re-recording other words about them in post-production. Thanks to this process – commonly referred to as deepfaking, in which mouth movements are modified to adapt to the new sentences – she received the classification “PG 13″…
A technology that raises some concerns and that the American artistic community would like to see framed, since it allows the dialogues to be rewritten from scratch and therefore theoretically make the actors say what they never said.
Fall could have been doubled with the same software, but for now it’s TrueSync it still works. Obviously the point is to (subtly) modulate the mouth movements to back them up with the translated dialogues, delivered with the interpreter’s voice – of which the system has archives.
A process that we were able to trace in the documentary The Andy Warhol Diaries (offered on Netflix), narrated by Andy Warhol himself, although he has been dead for 36 years! A work of several months by the company Resemble AI.
Nevertheless. Flawless AI moves closer to its goal: to put an end to human synchronization in the name of actors’ “artistic integrity”. In an interview with Time magazine, Scott Mann said the dubbed dialogue was “rarely in sync” with the actors’ facial movements. Second, they “sacrifice the meaning and nuance” of dubbed content, he believes.
The American film Every Time I Die by Robi Michael, released in 2019, was the first film to benefit from this technology from A to Z. An initiative of the young Israeli company Deephub, which thanks to AI dubbed the film in 2022 – with the original voice of each of the actors.
Another project launched this year using the same technology: a Synthesia-sponsored malaria eradication campaign starring footballer David Beckham. Here, too, the dubbing was done in several languages with the voice of Beckham.
Quebec on alert
In Quebec, despite these impressive advances, there is far more concern than excitement about AI sync from viewers’ perspectives. Because if – or rather: when – the American steamroller really gets going, this profession and this know-how are in danger of disappearing.
According to the Union des artistes (UDA), 44% of its 8,450 active members report income from dubbing, but also from narratives (whether documentaries, audio books or video descriptions), video games or advertising. So many sectors targeted by artificial intelligence software. So we are talking about more than 3,700 directly affected.
“Synchronizing with artificial intelligence software is a serious challenge,” confirms the leadership of the UDA, which intends to meet the Minister of Culture and Communication, Mathieu Lacombe, “at very short notice”. “It’s a problem precisely because it’s a sector that employs almost half of our members, but also because it affects our cultural identity in Quebec. With synthetic voices we lose the specificity of our language. »
Frédérik Zacharek is an actor who does a lot of dubbing. To this day as set director for dubbing projects. He is worried about the prospect that his job – there are around 750 actors who, according to the UDA, specifically dub films and series – will be replaced by synthetic voices.
We must not forget that the actors dubbing and speaking in Quebec fund the UDA’s social safety net. What will we do without this post? Synthetic voices are a threat over which we have no control, which we do not see coming and which is difficult to assess, but we must pass a protectionist cultural environment law now. . After that it will be impossible to avoid it.
Frederik Zacharek, actor
Since last week, Frenchman Olivier Barbery, editor-in-chief of Synchro magazine, which specializes in dubbing, has even been posting a petition on Facebook. As of Thursday, the Dubbing Petition: Against AI to Replace Actors had garnered nearly 7,500 signatures, thanks in large part to the participation of several hundred Quebec signatories.
trade now
“Reducing dubbing production costs in France and in French-speaking countries such as Belgium or Quebec may encourage majors and streaming platforms to use AI in this sector, thereby rendering an entire profession unemployed,” writes Olivier Barbery.
The synchronization specialist urges signers to “act now” before it’s too late.
From the viewer’s perspective, not everyone wonders who is behind the speaking voice, but Frédérik Zacharek believes that Quebecers identify with the local voices. When actress Béatrice Picard, who voiced Marge Simpson (on the French version of The Simpsons) for 33 years, left last January, she also received several honors.
Whenever a film or series needs dubbing, Quebec’s five main studios spring into action – Difuze, Cinelume, Pixcom, La Belle Équipe and Mel’s. The lyrics are written by adapters, then the actors enter the studio to record their voices.
For example, Alain Zouvi is the Quebec voice of Brad Pitt; Bernard Fortin, by Tom Hanks; David Laurin, Leonardo DiCaprio’s; Aline Pinsonneault, by Reese Witherspoon and Natalie Portman; Guy Nadon, by Dustin Hoffman; Isabelle Leyrolles, by Jennifer Aniston and Eva Mendes; Gilbert Lachance, Tom Cruise’s and Johnny Depp’s.
As the projects of Flawless AI, Deephub, Resemble AI, Synthesia and others multiply, these voices will die out unless a legal framework is put in place.