Amazon pulls AI-powered Fallout recap after getting key story details wrong | Hacker News Reader

Amazon pulls AI-powered Fallout recap after getting key story details wrong

ign.com

42 pointsjsheard10 comments

This follows Amazon pulling several AI generated anime dubs after backlash, and possibly also because they neglected to clear AI dubbing with the actual rightsholders before going ahead with it.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2025-12-03/amazon-stre...

I don't get it -- software performs at human levels for translation. Do you (and should you) need permissions to do a translation of a show for the audience?

Leaving aside whether AI translation is up to human level, particularly in a visual medium where important context isn't present anywhere in the text, that was about dub voice acting, not translation.

And leaving aside any ethical debates, the rightsholders may object to their content being presented this poorly just so the distributor can save a buck:

https://bsky.app/profile/littlekuriboh.bsky.social/post/3m6p...

https://bsky.app/profile/brainchild129.bsky.social/post/3m6r...

The humans who do anime/manga translation and dub voices were already paid a pittance for their work, so trying to replace them with AI is really scraping the enshittification barrel.

Yes. Copyright prevents the creation of derivative works without permission.

Do you own the rights to the show? If not, you're creating and profiting from an unauthorized copy of copyrighted material.

Language translation is editorial work, and you may make editorial decisions the rights owner disagrees with, misrepresenting their product without permission.

I dunno seems like a nothingburger to me. There are plenty of real things to worry about these days... somebody dubbing something so I can watch it isn't an issue for me. Presumably the viewers could just turn off the dubbing if they wanted?

You seem to be missing the main point, which is that this is not about your point of view, but about the rightsholder's.

> Do you (and should you) need permissions to do a translation of a show for the audience?

Should you? Obviously subjective opinion. Do you? Yes, a translation is derivative work under copyright and requires permission from the copyright owner.

This is a great example of why AI automation needs careful oversight. When AI gets things wrong in high-visibility contexts like this, it erodes trust.

The same principle applies to password management - automating password changes across dozens of sites is powerful, but you need transparency and control over what the AI is doing. Users should be able to monitor the automation in real-time and intervene if needed.

Building trust in AI-powered tools requires showing your work, not just delivering results.

They probably used Amazon Q to generate them...

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