Cover not available

Article published In: Translation Spaces: Online-First Articles

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Rethinking creativity in dubbing

Potential impact of AI dubbing technologies on creative practices, roles and viewer perceptions

ORCiD logo with link | University of Malta
Published online: 11 September 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ts.25002.spi
Abstract
This article offers an academic reflection on creativity in dubbing, considering the emergence and growing presence of AI-dubs. It explores the concept of creativity as a possible key differentiator between human agency and machine-generated content (Brandt, Anthony K. 2023. “Beethoven’s Ninth and AI’s Tenth: A Comparison of Human and Computational Creativity.” Journal of Creativity, 33 (3). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Grassini, Simone and Mika Koivisto. 2024. “Artificial Creativity? Evaluating AI Against Human Performance in Creative Interpretation of Visual Stimuli.” International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction 41 (7): 4037–4048. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Runco, Mark A. 2023. “AI Can Only Produce Artificial Creativity.” Journal of Creativity 33 (3). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). To this end, the article first examines creativity through a cross-disciplinary lens, establishing a broader conceptual theoretical framework and context for its definition and meaning. It then explores the creative practices associated with traditional studio-generated dubbing from both industry and academic perspectives, drawing insights from other fields that engage in constrained creative processes (Baetens, Jan. 2010. “Expanding the Field of Constraint: Novelization as an Example of Multiply Constrained Writing.” Poetics Today 31 (1): 51–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; De Geest, Dirk, and An Goris. (2010). Constrained writing, creative writing: The case of handbooks for writing romances. Poetics Today, 31(1), 81–106. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Krauth, Nigel. 2016. Creative Writing and the Radical. Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Wang, Yingxu. 2009. “On Cognitive Foundations of Creativity and the Cognitive Process of Creation.” International Journal of Cognitive Informatics and Natural Intelligence 3 (4): 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). Finally, it rethinks traditional creative practices in the context of AI-generated dubbed content, briefly summarizing preliminary research findings that compare studio-dubs and AI-dubs. The discussion focuses on how AI-dubbing technologies challenge established boundaries and norms, reshaping creative practices and the roles of dubbing practitioners — especially translators — and potentially influencing viewer perception.
Article outline
  • 1.Defining creativity through a cross-disciplinary lens
  • 2.Creativity in media localization and traditional studio-based dubbing
    • 2.1Creative practices in dubbing scriptwriting
  • 3.Creativity in AI-driven dubbing workflows
    • 3.1Rethinking creative processes in AI dubbing
    • 3.2Reshaping professional roles and skills
  • 4.Studio dubs versus AI dubs: Viewer-oriented perspectives
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Note
  • References
  • Media localization and tech provision references
References (67)
References
Adair, Gilbert. 1995. A Void. The Harvill Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baetens, Jan. 2010. “Expanding the Field of Constraint: Novelization as an Example of Multiply Constrained Writing.” Poetics Today 31 (1): 51–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baños Piñero, Rocío, and Frederic Chaume. 2009. “Prefabricated Orality.” inTRAlinea. [URL]
Boden, Margaret. 2010. Creativity and Art: Three Roads to Surprise. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brandt, Anthony K. 2023. “Beethoven’s Ninth and AI’s Tenth: A Comparison of Human and Computational Creativity.” Journal of Creativity, 33 (3). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chaume, Frederic. 2007. “Quality standards in dubbing: a proposal.” TradTerm, 131: 71–89. [URL]
Chen, Melvin. 2020. “Imagination Machines, Dartmouth-Based Turing Tests, & a Potted History of Responses.” AI and Society, 35 (1): 283–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. 1996. Creativity: flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. Harper Collins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Geest, Dirk, and An Goris. (2010). Constrained writing, creative writing: The case of handbooks for writing romances. Poetics Today, 31(1), 81–106. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gambier, Yves. 2023. Audiovisual translation and multimodality: What future. Media and Intercultural Communication: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 1(1). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gaut, Berys, and Matthew Kieran (eds). 2018. Creativity and Philosophy, Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grassini, Simone and Mika Koivisto. 2024. “Artificial Creativity? Evaluating AI Against Human Performance in Creative Interpretation of Visual Stimuli.” International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction 41 (7): 4037–4048. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haase, Jennifer, and Paul H. P. Hanel. 2023. “Artificial Muses: Generative Artificial Intelligence Chatbots Have Risen to Human-Level Creativity.” Journal of Creativity 33 (3). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, Michael. 1967. Intonation and Grammar in British English. Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayes, Lydia and Alejandro Bolaños-García-Escribano. 2022. “(Main)streaming English Dubs: A Snapshot of Netflix’s Playbook on Dubbing Strategies.” Journal of Audiovisual Translation 5 (2): 213–233. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kässbohrer, Philip and Matthias Murmann, creators. How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast). Season 1–4, 2019–2022, Netflix. [URL]
Krauth, Nigel. 2016. Creative Writing and the Radical. Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kronfeldner, Maria E. 2009. “Creativity Naturalized.” The Philosophical Quarterly 59 (237): 577–592. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2018. “Explaining Creativity.” In Creativity and Philosophy, edited by Berys Gaut, and Matthew Kieran, 213–229. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martínez Sierra, Juan José. 2008. Humor y traducción: Los Simpson cruzan la frontera. Universitat Jaume I.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayoral, Roberto, Dorothy Kelly, and Natividad Gallardo. 1988. “Concept of Constrained Translation. Non-linguistic Perspectives of Translation.” Meta 33 (3), 356–367. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mosholt, Jannik Tai, Christian Potalivo, and Esben Toft Jacobsen. The Rain. Season 1–3, 2018–2020, Netflix. [URL]
Odar, Baran Bo and Jantje Friese, creators. 1899. 2022, Netflix. [URL]
Oppy, Graham, and David Dowe. 2024. “The Turing Test.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2024 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta, and Uri Nodelman. [URL]
Orrego-Carmona, David. 2024. “Placing Human Agency in the AI-Powered Media Localisation Industry.” Journal of Audiovisual Translation 7 (2): 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, Elliot Samuel, and Dustin Stokes. 2018. “Attributing Creativity.” In Creativity and Philosophy, edited by Berys Gaut, and Matthew Kieran, 193–210. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2021. “Computer Creativity is a Matter of Agency.” Institute of Arts and Ideas News. November 11. [URL]
. 2024. “Creativity.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2024 Edition), edited by Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman. [URL]
Pavesi, Maria. 2005. La traduzione filmica. Aspetti del parlato doppiato dall’inglese all’italiano. Carocci.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pease, Alison, and Simon Colton. 2011. “On Impact and Evaluation in Computational Creativity: A Discussion of the Turing Test and an Alternative Proposal.” In Proceedings of AISB ’11: Computing and Philosophy, edited by Dimitar Kazakov, and George Tsoulas, 15–22. Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perec, George. 1969. La Disparition. Gallimard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Raz, Lior and Avi Issacharoff, creators. Fauda. Season 1–4, 2015–2022, Netflix. [URL]
Romero-Fresco, Pablo. 2006. “The Spanish Dubbese: A case of (un)idiomatic friends.” The Journal of Specialised Translation 61: 134–151. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Romero-Fresco, Pablo, and Frederic Chaume. 2022. “Creativity in Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility.” The Journal of Specialised Translation 381: 75–101. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Runco, Mark. A., and Garrett J. Jaeger. 2012. “The Standard Definition of Creativity.” Creativity Research Journal 24 (1): 92–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Runco, Mark A. 2023. “AI Can Only Produce Artificial Creativity.” Journal of Creativity 33 (3). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sánchez-Mompeán, Sofía. 2020. The Prosody of Dubbed Speech: Beyond the Character’s Words. Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2023. “Engaging English Audiences in the Dubbing Experience: A Matter of Quality or Habituation?” Íkala, Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura 28 (2): 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Savoldelli, Sofia, and Giselle Spiteri Miggiani. 2023. “The Rendering of Multilingual Occurrences in Netflix’s Italian Dub Streams: Evolving Trends and Norms on Streaming Platforms.” Languages 81: 113. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spiteri Miggiani, Giselle. 2021. “English-Language Dubbing: Challenges and Quality Standards of an Emerging Localisation Trend.” The Journal of Specialised Translation 361: 2–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022. “The dubbing metamorphosis: Where do we go from here?” European Society for Translation Studies (Newsletter) 601: 10.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024a. “The Language of Dubbing: Unintended Register or Necessary Equilibrium?” In Malta and Italy: Language, Linguistics, Film and Literature: Writings in Honour of Joseph M. Brincat, edited by Sandro Caruana, 47–58. Midsea Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024b. “Quality Assessment Tools for Studio and AI-Generated Dubs and Voice-Overs.” Parallèles 36 (2): 49–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. Forthcoming. “Quality in Multilingual AI Dubbing: Exploring Machine and Human Intersections.”
Titford, Christopher. 1982. “Subtitling constrained translation.” Lebende Sprachen 27 (3), 113–116.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, Yingxu. 2009. “On Cognitive Foundations of Creativity and the Cognitive Process of Creation.” International Journal of Cognitive Informatics and Natural Intelligence 3 (4): 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wright, Ernest Vincent. 1939. Gadsby. Wetzel Publishing Co.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yang, Yi, Brendan Shillingford, Yannis Assael, Miaosen Wang, Wendi Liu, Yutian Chen, Yu Zhang, Eren Sezener, Luis C. Cobo, Misha Denil, Yusuf Aytar and Nando de Freitas. 2020. “Large-scale multilingual audio visual dubbing.” ArXiv abs/2011.03530. [URL]
Zabalbeascoa, Patrick. 1993. Developing Translation Studies to Better Account for Audiovisual Texts and Other New Forms of Text Production. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Lleida.
Media localization and tech provision references
Adapt. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Dubformer. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Dubly. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Disney. “Disney Careers”. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Eleven Labs. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Flawless. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Google DeepMind. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Lenseup. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
LipdubAI. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Netflix. “Netflix Jobs”. Accessed November 2020. [URL]
. “Introduction to Netflix Quality Control (QC).” Accessed December 1, 2024, [URL]
. “Dubbing Creative Guidelines.” Accessed June 1, 2025, [URL]
Oulipo. Accessed June 30, 2024. [URL]
SIAE. Accessed June 30, 2024. [URL]
Speechify. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Verbalate. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
Voiseed. Accessed December 1, 2024. [URL]
ZOODigital. “ZOOdigital Careers”. Accessed June 30, 2024. [URL]
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue