“Shows how important real actors are”: Amazon Prime Video users are canceling their accounts after noticing AI dubbing in “Banana Fish”

As the discourse around AI continues to grow, people are taking a stance against it. While some companies are rejecting AI, others are leaning into it. Recently, Amazon users discovered that Prime Video is using AI for English-dubbed anime. Now, people are cancelling their subscriptions.

Using AI to dub shows is wrong for multiple reasons. First, it takes jobs away from actors. Dubbing animated Japanese shows and films is a huge source of income for voice actors. Second, AI can't exactly convey the same emotions as an actor.

While many anime fans prefer to watch shows with subtitles, others enjoy seeing what English-speaking voice actors bring to the table. They almost always approach the role with care, which isn't something AI is capable of.

Voice actor Daman Mills, who is best known for anime and gaming dubs, took to Twitter last week to condemn Amazon's actions, specifically regarding the show Banana Fish.

"Shame on you @amazon @PrimeVideo," he began.

"After years of fans hoping for an English dub of Banana Fish, you give it to us as AI-generated garbage? It’s disrespectful as hell. Was a queer trauma narrative handed to a machine because paying real actors is too hard? Fix this, or I personally will not work with you as an actor EVER AGAIN on any of your dubs. This is not ‘the future.’ This is erasure."

Mills went on to show that he cancelled his Prime subscription. "You don't wanna pay me? I don't wanna pay you."

Fans cancel their Prime subscriptions over AI dubs

Many anime fans and other voice actors have followed Mills' example and cancelled their subscriptions.

"There’s no shortage of reasons to do this, but I’m following Daman’s lead. The pure greed of @amazon @PrimeVideo using AI dubbing instead of human performances is gross as hell," voice actor Damien Haas wrote.

"Artists deserve better. Consumers deserve better. Vote with your dollar - the only way they’ll hear."

"What hope does any aspiring voice actor have now? Amazon has deep resources and should do better. They’re also AI dubbing over titles that already have existing dubs," one person wrote, quote-tweeting another post that shows how the AI dub is "hilariously bad."

"Banana Fish is one of the most heart-wrenching and romantic stories ever told in anime. For Amazon to implement AI for the English dub defeats the entire purpose. But of course, they don’t care about the artistic meaning. Boycott Prime. Nuff said," voice actor Jacob Hopkins tweeted.

"It’s really quite terrible and shows how important real actors are," a streamer pointed out.

Another voice actor called it "genuinely [expletive] putrid and insanely disrespectful to actual human actors."

Other people are taking to TikTok and encouraging people to "fight back."

@nekodecopop We are facing a CRISIS in the Anime Industry so FIGHT BACK @Prime Video #aidub #bananafish #voiceacting #primevideo #animefyp The AI dubbing of Banana Fish is a CRISIS in the world of voice acting and I need y’all to understand how serious this is They created this ai dub BY FEEDING IT THE VOICE ACTON FROM THE ORIGINAL SUB CAST which is a massive copyright infringement and one I hope those companies sue the fuck out of them This could set the precedent for ai dubs to improve over time as the technology advances which WILL take over the industry if we’re not careful WHAT WE NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW IS: Urge voice acting unions to add clauses into their talents contracts outlawing the use of their clients voice acting to be used to train AI dubbing models. If they don’t have anything to train the models on the technology will not improve Support unions and talent agencies as they sue for copyright infringement. This could possibly range from sharing information about to fight, to possibly helping with crowdfunding for legal fees LET ANIME COMPANIES THAT WE WILL NOT WATCH AN ANIME WITH AI DUBS This doesn’t just affect dubs so imma need all of the sub elitists to stop saying this isn’t going to affect them This could bleed into using ai to make subs. And this is ALREADY ruining anime subs. Crunchyroll has switched from using freelance translators for their subs to using open source ai subtitles. It has MASSIVELY affected this current fall season of anime which has seen a huge quality decline We are at a tipping point where we can still go back an stop this but we have to be loud NOW and let our voices be heard Anime companies are only concerned about the bottom line so if he protest & REFUSE to tolerate Ai, it will no longer be profitable and they will decide to go to a different route But if it becomes industry standard, it will be next to near impossible to turn back around SO USE YOUR VOICES AND BE LOUD Let @crunchyroll ♬ original sound - NekoDecoPop

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