YouTube AI dubbing raises creator concerns over language advantage

YouTube's AI dubbing feature, designed to boost video reach across multiple languages like Hindi, English, German and French, is generating a complex reaction from creators, with some fearing it could erode their unique connection with audiences built on language proficiency.

Mayo Hitomi, better known as Mayo Japan, a Japanese creator known for her Hindi content, is concerned that YouTube's AI dubbing feature, which automatically translates and dubs videos into multiple languages, could undermine her brand value and uniqueness. With AI-powered dubbing, international YouTubers can now easily create Hindi content without themselves being proficient in the language, potentially increasing competition and diminishing her unique appeal.

“My strength has always been speaking Hindi and that has always been an advantage from a content point of view. When it comes to AI dubbing, now that the language barrier is low, I am also very scared because that advantage and my brand will be a little bit weakened,” Hitomi said at the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (Waves) in Mumbai on Thursday.

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She has 3.55 million YouTube subscribers.

YouTube's AI dubbing, which was launched in December 2024, is especially popular among global creators on the platform who are using it to convert videos into Hindi and tap into India's vast audience.

“My content is science-related and India produces more engineers than any other country and is STEM-focused, so I think my content resonates well here,” Mark Rober, a popular American YouTuber known for his science and DIY (do-it-yourself) gadgets, said at the summit. Rober, who has 6.78 crore subscribers on YouTube, added that he dubs his videos in 32 languages, including Hindi for an Indian audience and content in 20 of those languages is dubbed using AI and not human actors.

According to a senior YouTube official, the AI dubbing tool becomes an important factor for growth because India, being the world’s most populous country, is also one of the largest markets for the American video-sharing platform.

“India is a large consumer of content and AI dubbing is a great opportunity for top global creators like Mark Rober and Mr Beast to make their content accessible to a wider audience,” Gautam Anand, vice president, YouTube Asia-Pacific (APAC), told Mint.

Mr Beast, whose real name is James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, is the world’s most subscribed YouTuber with close to 40 crore subscribers.

For Indian creators too, while this is an opportunity to expand their reach to a global audience, they remain cautious of its cons.

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“I think there's a case to be made that premier creators might want to be cautious about using AI dubbing to translate their videos into regional languages purely for reach. While it can boost follower counts, it doesn’t always translate to genuine connection or loyalty,” Varun Mayya, founder of Aeos Labs, a company that builds AI solutions and experiences, told Mint.

“Sometimes, content that works well in one language or cultural context may not resonate or could even backfire in another. There’s value in going deeper with the audience you already have, rather than stretching too far and risking dilution of your brand or unintended cultural missteps,” Mayya, who is also a popular AI-related content creator, added.

Mayya has 8.72 lakh subscribers on YouTube.

In India, YouTube’s AI dubbing is only limited to Hindi. However, softwares like Heygen and 11elevenlabs are widely used to dub videos into regional languages like Tamil and Telegu. In the past year, over 100 million channels actively created content from India, with more than 15,000 of them having over a million subscribers each. At the same time, Indian content garnered 45 billion hours of watch time from global viewers last year, Mint reported earlier.

With regional content picking up at a rapid pace, brands like Britannia, HUL and Myntra have also started spending 30-35% of their influencer marketing budgets on creators from small towns, Mint previously reported.

As AI dubbing gains traction, language-based content risks becoming an obsolete niche. In response, creators like Mayo Hitomi (Mayo Japan) and Yechan Charlie Lee (aka 40kahani), a Korean YouTuber known for his Hindi content, are focusing on building stronger identities beyond language.

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“If a creator's entire content strategy is around language, it would eventually get saturated on its own. Even though I am known for being the Korean who knows Hindi, I always experiment with different sorts of content ideas myself,” said Lee, who has 1.01 lakh YouTube subscribers.

Lee predicts that future advancements in AI dubbing will make translated content sound increasingly human-like, incorporating local dialects, accents, tones and emotional expressions, which could further erode the uniqueness of language-based content.

Speaking about her fears of becoming irrelevant due to AI dubbing picking pace, Hitomi said, “I feel like I should work harder to be more creative and more unique when it comes to content creation.”