The kickoff press conference for the Voice Protection and Multilingualization Association (VIDA) was held in Tokyo on November 19th. VIDA was established with the aim of utilizing cutting-edge voice AI technology to protect human voices and promote "voice multilingualization," which will support the global expansion of anime, dramas, and movies. At the press conference, it was announced that the association will collaborate with Eleven Labs, a company specializing in AI voice generation technology, to use AI to translate Japanese voice actors' voices into more than 30 languages. This initiative aims to not only expand content that utilizes multilingual voices overseas, but also to combat the recent controversy over piracy and the problem of AI generating the voices of voice actors and actors without their permission.
Voice actress Mika Kanai appeared on stage and conducted a demonstration experiment of multilingual voice translation. Kanai said, "Since I'm translating my voice into languages other than Japanese, I'd like to try exchanging lines and see what happens," and performed the lines she had prepared. The whole experience was filmed on camera. The filmed video data was then imported into a computer and the process of multilingualization began.
After listening to her voice converted into various languages including English, French, Chinese and Spanish, Kanai said, "I wonder if this is what it would be like if I could speak English." She added, "I can't objectively say whether it sounds similar, but I hope the quality will improve. I hope that voices will be protected in this way, not used without permission, and that rights will be respected. Rather than being against AI, I think that if we can successfully integrate it with AI, it will help everyone."
Masakazu Kubo, CEO of area358 and representative director of the association, said, "We believe that dubbing for anime should be done with human voices." He explained that when multilingual voices are actually used in content, the voice actors first record the voices in Japanese, then there is a meeting with the sound director to discuss the direction of the English version, the English translation is processed by Eleven Lab, the translation and sound effects are checked by native speakers, and the voices are then processed into languages other than English.
Kubo also said that multilingual voiceovers "increase the possibility of creating new anime businesses," and that by utilizing the multilingual voiceover initiative for works currently distributed overseas with only foreign language subtitles, "we aim to appeal to a wide range of age groups." He also said that they are considering expanding into regions where Japanese anime is still developing, such as South America, the Middle East, and Africa.
Michiyoshi Minamisawa, CEO of 81 Produce, said, "Protecting the voices of voice actors and multilingualization are challenges," adding, "I feel that multilingualization holds a great deal of power for the future of our company and the industry."
