News Amazon Prime Anime Studios Claim Amazon Added AI-Generated Dubs Without Their Permission The No Game, No Life: Zero distributors deny giving Amazon their permission to upload the controversial AI-generated dubs. By Matthew Byrd | Published on December 3, 2025 Photo: Kadokawa Animation Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Kadokawa Animation In what is rapidly becoming one of the stranger and potentially consequential entertainment stories of the year, some anime studios have confirmed that they did not approve (and were not aware of) Amazon’s efforts to add AI-generated dubs to their works via the Amazon Prime service. This whole thing started last week when Amazon quietly added AI-generated dubbing options to various anime projects such as Banana Fish, No Game, No Life: Zero, Pet, Journal of the Mysterious Creatures, and Vinland Saga. Some of those anime works received AI-generated English and Spanish dubs, while others (such as Vinland Saga) only received Spanish dub audio options. The decision was made with essentially no fanfare and wasn’t really noticed until fans spotted the new audio options and decided to give them a shot. The results were, perhaps predictably, disastrous. The decision to add an AI-generated audio option to these works understandably drew the ire of various voice actors who spoke against the decision to incorporate such an audio option and deny them, audio engineers, and associated studio personnel work in the process. While there has been some confusion regarding whether or not there were ever any plans to give these works more traditionally produced dubs (more on that in a bit), the very idea that you could unleash such an option in the effective dead of night and declare it a viable alternative did not sit well with various professionals and fans in the anime community. More to the point, some of the AI-generated dubs in question are quite bad. You’re probably not going to be surprised to learn that AI-generated voiceovers lack the nuance and audio quality that you’d get from professional actors working in a studio. However, you may not entirely be prepared for the ways those poor quality AI-generated “performances” fail to even vaguely match the timing of what’s occurring on-screen. No familiarity with the show Banana Fish is required to appreciate how poor this dub is: Amazon has started using AI to add English Dubs to anime like BANANA FISH. It’s really quite terrible and shows how important real actors are. pic.twitter.com/POgy4oIq1p— DansGaming (@Dansgaming) November 29, 2025 Since those AI-generated audio options were added late last week (the exact timing is unknown, though it was believed to have occurred late last Thursday or Friday) Amazon has quietly removed the English dubs for Banana Fish and No Game, No Life: Zero from Prime Video. However, the Spanish AI dubs for works such as Dororo, Karakuri Circus, Banana Fish, and Vinland Saga and the English AI dub for Pet have not been removed as of the time of this writing. The ethics and results of these dubs will undoubtedly continue to be discussed, but the biggest question at the moment may be “What really happened here?” Were these dubs created with any consent or input from the various anime studios involved, or was this purely an Amazon initiative? Who knew what about this project when, and what kind of approval process was involved? Were these works selected because there had been no official indication that they would otherwise receive an official English dub, or were other arrangements considered for their “participation” in this program? Recently, we got at least a few answers to this whole thing, though they arguably make the whole situation even more bizarre. Anime News Network reached out to some of the studios and distributors behind these works and received some troubling replies. No Game, No Life: Zero distributor Kadokawa Animation said they did not approve “any form” of an AI dub, while sources at North American distributor Sentai Filmworks reportedly stated that the studio was not made aware of this decision “in advance.” Banana Fish distributor Aniplex did not respond to Anime News Network with a comment at this time, but we have reached out to them, Amazon, and several of the other studios involved with this recent batch of AI-generated dubbing options for more information. For now, the situation remains volatile and ongoing. Anime studios and distributors like Crunchyroll have already had to address controversies regarding the use of generative AI in their works, and Crunchyroll representatives have since stated that they are “not considering” the use of AI in their creative processes, including voice acting, as a result of that reaction. We certainly know that there is backlash against the idea of using such technology in ways that not only impact the quality of that work but potentially cost performers, artists, and engineers their jobs. So while the idea of more studios choosing to go that route despite the pleas not to is troubling, it’s more disturbing to consider that these decisions were made without explicit permission. It should also be noted that Amazon previously added AI-generated audio dubbing options to international works such as El Cid: La Leyenda and, at the time, argued that the decision to do so was based on their belief that such works would otherwise not receive professional dubbing options. It’s unclear whether Amazon considered using their own considerable resources to produce said dubs as an alternative. What happens next is worth keeping an eye on. The timing of this situation makes it likely that the dubs were removed due to the reactions to them (and their seemingly obvious issues) rather than formal disputes from the creators (which would seemingly take time, if such permission was even technically required in the first place). But how long will that last? Is the argument that such techniques should be used for series that would otherwise not receive official dubs really strong enough to stand on? Will these dubs go up with “fixes” in the near future, or is the blowback greater than that at this point? Will potential disputes hinder Amazon’s attempts to reupload these dubs in any form? Perhaps most importantly, will this entire situation eventually set some kind of precedent not just for anime dubs but the rights of creators and distributors regarding similar modifications? It’s that last question that will perhaps generate the most interest in this situation regardless of your familiarity with and interest in the specific works that this technology has been used on so far. [end-mark] The post Anime Studios Claim Amazon Added AI-Generated Dubs Without Their Permission appeared first on Reactor.