AI Dubbing Startup Initiates Ethical Code of AI Use in Translations
vidby, a Swiss startup for AI-powered translation and dubbing, urges colleagues to direct their efforts on creating a code of ethical use of advanced artificial intelligence technologies in translations.
With the growing public concern about AI showcasing an existential risk to humanity, the necessity of a common set of ethical standards has become vital in 2023.
Thus, vidby proposes AI linguistic startups to agree upon a framework of rules resulting in a written code mandatory for all translation and dubbing services using AI as a core technology. First and foremost, the tenets should define the mission and values for everyone taking advantage of AI instruments. Among the top priorities there must be mentioned: meeting the highest anti-fake safety standards, preserving linguistic diversity and preventing discrimination of any kind.
Vidby has already made a step in this direction by introducing the text of the ethical code, which follows the principles of non-discrimination, security and integrity of linguistic AI. It’s important to take actionable steps without further delay. As part of its ethical policy vidby introduced more than two thousand voices for dubbing in various languages, representing both male and female characters of different age groups: children, teenagers, adults and senior people. Such a variety would let users of all ages to pick the voice to their liking and escape unintended ageism by limiting them to the young ones.
According to UNESCO there are 7,000 languages on the Earth, of which about 6,700 are indigenous. Today forty percent of them are at risk of disappearing. With the majority of the global content being created in English, other language speakers either don’t have access to the information, or have to learn English to consume it.
Luckily, with the opportunities given by AI, there’s a chance to move towards achieving linguistic equality. The essence of this is to exclude any discrimination of a person on the basis of language, so that every person has the right to receive information in their own language and communicate with the world in their own language.
Thus, vidby calls on all competitors to jointly adopt a code of ethical and responsible implementation of AI technology in translation and dubbing process, ta
king into account the principles of ensuring security and combating fakes as well as upholding linguistic equality.
