Imagine being able to speak any language. This is exactly what the new HeyGen application wants to enable you to do. The artificial intelligence (AI) video translation service launched this summer is still in its infancy, but the quality of its translations is already showing incredible possibilities. However, it is a concern for certain industries such as professional dubbing, whose actors fear one day being replaced by AI.
Installed in the rehearsal room of the French Theater in Toronto, French-Ontarian actor Pierre Simpson can’t believe it. He is watching a video of General Charles de Gaulle reciting a speech in Portuguese, made by an Internet user using the HeyGen application. The illusion is almost perfect.
Its scary! This is not fun. The actors are sweating a little, he says, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands in front of his face.
HeyGen, founded by Joshua Xu, a former Snapchat engineer, and Canadian entrepreneur Wayne Liang, can translate a video into 13 languages, including Korean, Turkish, Mandarin, French and Portuguese, synchronizing the speaker’s lips and voice imitate.
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While this technology could potentially be used to communicate with people in other languages or to help people who have difficulty expressing themselves due to language disorders, its use also raises several concerns, particularly in the arts industry.
Monitoring the use of artificial intelligence in cinema and television is also a focus of the actors and screenwriters’ strike in Hollywood.
I can understand that it can be extremely practical when holding a meeting within a company with people who don’t speak your language. I think it goes beyond acceptance when it touches the artistic aspect. “If you take my voice and use my voice to make an advertisement in English, that is unacceptable,” explains the owner of the production company Ginger Wave Productions, which specializes in dubbing, among other things, Simon D. Scott.
Mr. Simpson agrees. He believes that the introduction of these new technologies could jeopardize the future of his profession.
Of course, we’re slowly getting used to programmed voices like Siri or the voices on the subway, but there was a time when it was actors who recorded it all.
He fears that more and more actors are leaving the profession due to lack of income.
In the acting profession you have to do a little bit of everything to stay in the job, be it in front of the camera, dubbing or post-dubbing. […] I’m afraid for my friends, my colleagues. If they don’t have dubbing in their toy bag, we will lose even more actors, he explains.
The actors have good reasons to be worried
Daniel Tsai, a lecturer in law and management at Toronto Metropolitan University, understands stakeholders’ fears.
According to him, the technologies used by the HeyGen application were developed specifically for the film and dubbing industry.
There is a deep fear that is actually well-founded, as this technology is already being used extensively in computer imaging, which makes it possible to resurrect dead actors such as Christopher Reeve in the film The Flash, he explains.
Many other industries beyond the cinema could be affected, said the expert. It also warns individuals about the increase in vote cloning fraud.
He gives the example of a Regina grandmother who claims she was the victim of a scam aimed at extorting money from her. The fraudsters used artificial intelligence to imitate her grandson’s voice.
Everyone should be worried.
Technology still imperfect
The HeyGen app technology is still not perfect. For example, the application does not reproduce accents perfectly, which currently shows the limits of artificial intelligence used in this context.
Will technology ever truly be able to reproduce all the intricacies and nuances of good acting? I don’t know.
You have to remember that what you see in the media are only selected examples because they worked well. Ten of each of them didn’t work well, he adds.
However, the expert points out that technology is developing rapidly.
The apps you’re seeing right now are the worst you’ll ever see. They’re only getting better, he says.