YouTube Auto-Dubbing: Everything You Need to Know (And Why Human Dubbing is Still Better)

As YouTube continues to expand globally, language barriers have become an obstacle for creators wanting to reach new audiences. To address this, YouTube recently launched an AI-powered auto-dubbing tool, created by YouTube’s subdivision Aloud, designed to automatically dub videos into various languages. However, this innovation raises questions about intellectual rights, as the tool's audio processing automatically takes original content and creates dubbed versions.

Additionally, adding subtitles could enhance clarity for viewers. While the feature promises to streamline content creation for global audiences, its effectiveness remains up for debate. Currently, the auto-dubbing feature is not available to all creators, but YouTube plans to expand access to hundreds of thousands of creators in the coming months.

In this article, we’ll dive deep into YouTube’s auto-dubbing tool, its benefits and challenges, and why human dubbing—particularly through services like BeMultilingual—is often the better choice for creators seeking high-quality, culturally-sensitive translations.  Learn more about how to dub a YouTube video for broader reach. 

What is YouTube Auto-Dubbing?

YouTube’s auto-dubbing feature, announced during the Made on YouTube event on September 18, 2024, uses AI to automatically translate and generate audio tracks in different languages for creators' videos. Created by Aloud, this tool aims to break down language barriers by translating and voicing over content, allowing creators to reach a global audience. The auto-dubbing logo helps viewers identify content that utilizes this new technology.

With auto-dubbing, videos can be instantly dubbed into languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, and recently expanded options like French and Italian. YouTube aims to open the feature to hundreds of thousands of creators over the coming months, allowing them to add subtitles to complement the dubbed audio for a more inclusive viewer experience. For creators looking to expand internationally, this feature provides a starting point, but using a more robust YouTube channel dubbing approach can elevate content quality and audience engagement.

How Does YouTube Auto-Dubbing Work?

The process for using YouTube auto-dubbing is straightforward:

1. Upload a video to YouTube.

2. AI Analysis and Translation: The platform's AI analyzes and translates the script into a target language.

3. Voice Generation: The AI generates an audio track based on the translation, creating an automatic voiceover.

4. Review Option: Creators can review the auto-dubbed track before publishing or automatically publish the video with the new audio track. It's important to respect rights associated with this content transformation.

According to Google, creators can opt-out of this feature if they prefer not to use it for certain videos:

“You can choose which languages will be automatically dubbed upon upload, with an opt-out available” - YouTube Help

The Shortcomings of Auto-Dubbing

While auto-dubbing seems promising, it has significant limitations:

1. Lack of Emotional Depth

AI-generated voices often sound robotic and unnatural. A glaring example comes from Kings and Generals, a popular YouTube channel with over 2.15 million subscribers, which used YouTube’s auto-dubbing for some of their historical content. The results?

“It’s an AI voice, very computerized. The voice seems very artificial and at points is incomprehensible.” — Independent Spanish Viewer

“The AI VO in PT is horrible. The voice is flat, weak, and robotic. It’s damaging the channel’s reputation.” — Independent Portuguese Viewer

2. Cultural Disconnect

AI lacks cultural context. In certain videos, especially those discussing sensitive subjects like politics, history, or cultural customs, it’s crucial that the tone and context are handled appropriately. AI cannot adapt to these nuances, leading to an experience that can feel off-putting to native speakers.

3. Quality vs. Convenience

While AI might save time, it sacrifices quality. In fields where trust, emotion, and cultural relevance are key—such as education, entertainment, and history—viewers can easily sense the difference between a professionally dubbed video and one translated by a machine.

Reviews of the AI Dubbing

Aloud promotes its dubbing for the YouTube channel Kings and Generals on its homepage, showcasing the technology's multilingual and speech recognition capabilities.

However, let's see how the AI dubbing actually performs and sounds like: Link to the YouTube video: Click here to watch the AI-dubbed video

• To see the dubs, click on the video, click settings, click audio tracks, and select the language you want to hear.

• This video was released in September, the same month YouTube launched this feature on the platform.

As you can see Aloud boasts about it's dubbing for the YouTube channel Kings and Generals on Aloud's home page.

“It's an AI voice, very computerized. The voice seems very artificial and at points is incomprehensible. Too bad as the theme of the channel seems interesting to me.” 

- Independent Spanish Viewer

“The AI VO in PT is horrible. I have seen better AI voices but this one is flat, weak, very robotic, female (high pitch) and sounds ridiculous. Some parts are even funny. It is damaging their reputation - talking about power, Rome, masculinity... I can say one thing more: because of this painful female AI VO, the channel may not be reaching the PT audience or not pleasing it. I rolled and rolled and didn't find a comment in PT. The human VO in English in the same video is far, far better and the comments show how much the male audience enjoys it. There are even people saying how nice the voice is.” 

- Independent Portuguese Viewer

Who Should Use YouTube Auto-Dubbing?

YouTube’s auto-dubbing feature, based on speech recognition technology, can be helpful for certain types of creators:

• Casual Content Creators who post frequently and don’t require high levels of emotional depth in their translations (e.g., daily vloggers).

• Budget-Conscious Creators who are exploring international audiences and need a quick, cost-effective solution.

However, for creators with highly specialized or emotional content, the limitations of auto-dubbing can be a dealbreaker.

When YouTube Auto-Dubbing Falls Short: Why Professional Dubbing Matters

When it comes to engaging audiences, quality is paramount, especially for channels that require a deeper connection with their viewers. This is where BeMultilingual—a team of professional human voice actors and translators—outshines AI.

1. Human Voices Bring Emotion

When it comes to engaging audiences, quality is paramount, especially for channels that require a deeper connection with their viewers. This is where BeMultilingual—a team of professional human voice actors and translators—outshines AI.

2. Human Voices Bring Emotion

AI cannot replicate the range of emotion that human voices provide. For example, SV2, a YouTube creator with over 3.3 million subscribers, saw nearly double the views after partnering with BeMultilingual:

“BeMultilingual dubbing has helped my channel reach a whole new audience! Views have increased by almost double since working with them.”

3. Cultural Context Matters

A great translation is about more than just words—it’s about understanding cultural nuances and localizing content. Professional dubbing ensures that jokes land, and sensitive topics are handled with care.

4. Maintaining Your Brand’s Integrity

Many creators have built a personal brand where their voice, tone, and delivery are integral to their success. AI lacks the ability to adapt to a creator's unique personality, but BeMultilingual offers custom solutions that ensure consistency across languages.

Language Support in YouTube Auto-Dubbing

Currently, YouTube’s auto-dubbing supports a few languages:

• Spanish

• Portuguese

• French

• Italian

YouTube has promised to add more languages over time, allowing creators to dub their content in languages like German and Hindi. However, availability may be limited in smaller markets, which could restrict audience reach.

In contrast, BeMultilingual offers over 15 languages, including Arabic, Hindi, Korean, and Russian. This wider array of language support enables creators to tap into underrepresented audiences, using YouTube's multi-language audio feature with professional human dubs.

Human Dubbing with BeMultilingual: The Superior Alternative

While YouTube’s AI auto-dubbing might be good enough for quick, low-budget translations, creators who care about maintaining the integrity of their content and building genuine connections with international audiences will find that human dubbing is the better option.

Here’s why BeMultilingual stands out:

1. Native-Speaking Voice Actors: BeMultilingual uses professional native-speaking voice actors who understand the tone, context, and emotional depth required to truly resonate with an audience.

2. Custom Dubbing Solutions: BeMultilingual offers tailored solutions that allow creators to select the type of voice and tone they need, ensuring that the dubbed content maintains the same feel as the original.

3. A Proven Track Record: With glowing testimonials from creators like Glitch and Rocky Kanaka, it’s clear that working with professionals can lead to substantial increases in views and audience engagement.

“The team at BeMultilingual have been extremely professional and provided great translation services that boosted our video’s performance.” — Glitch, 6.8M subscribers.

Future of AI and Human Dubbing: A Hybrid Approach?

As AI dubbing technology continues to evolve, there may be opportunities for hybrid approaches that combine the efficiency of AI with the emotional depth of human voices. For instance, AI could handle the initial translation, while human editors refine the output to match cultural nuances and tonal requirements.

For now, however, creators should carefully consider the type of content they produce and whether AI dubbing is sufficient for their needs. If reaching a global audience with high-quality, culturally-appropriate content is your goal, BeMultilingual is the clear choice.

Final Thoughts: YouTube Auto-Dubbing vs. Human Dubbing

While YouTube’s auto-dubbing feature has its merits, the reality is that AI cannot yet match the quality and emotional depth provided by human dubbing. The robotic, lifeless voices generated by AI can damage a creator’s reputation and lead to a disconnection with international audiences.

For creators who are serious about expanding their reach and maintaining the quality of their content, human dubbing services like BeMultilingual offer the best solution. With professional voice actors, culturally-aware translations, and proven results, BeMultilingual helps creators grow their global audiences while preserving the essence of their content.

So, if you want your content to truly resonate with audiences worldwide, the choice is clear—choose human, choose BeMultilingual. If you are looking to get in contact with BeMultilingual click here.