Amazon's AI Recap Video Debacle: A Lesson in Accountability
Prime Video has yanked an AI-generated recap video for Fallout's first season from its streaming platform after viewers pointed out it was riddled with inaccuracies. The clip, produced by Amazon's AI recap feature, was touted as the ability to "use AI to identify a show's most important plot points" and "create a visual summary." However, it got those "important plot points" alarmingly wrong.
The video's monotone text-to-speech narrator incorrectly stated that the show's flashbacks were set in the 1950s, when they are actually set in 2077. It also hallucinated an emotional climax for characters Walton Goggins' Ghoul and Ella Purnell's Lucy MacLean, saying they joined forces to find Lucy's father as a "die here or leave with me" scenario, when in reality, they were amicably pissed off.
Amazon has since pulled the video from Prime Video, after fans took to social media to express their outrage. The company's move can be seen as a proof of concept of bullying, given the adverse social media reaction to it on X/Twitter and Reddit. However, this isn't the first time Amazon has been taken to task by fans for its AI slop.
Just two weeks ago, subscribers noticed that Prime Video had released an AI beta for English and Latin American Spanish dubs for anime series Banana Fish, Vinland Saga, and No Game No Life. The issue wasn't so much the quality of the dubs but that it was an affront to voice actors, with Amazon charging extra on top of a monthly fee to remove ads.
Amazon's handling of the situation has been farcical. Kadokawa and Hidive, the company and streaming platform hosting No Game No Life, stated they had not approved an AI dub "in any form" and were unaware in advance about the feature. After criticism, Amazon rolled back its AI beta specifically for the English dub tracks, but not for the Latin American Spanish feature.
Subscribers have taken to cancelling their subscriptions in protest, with fans like Dragon Ball Super's Daman Mills going viral for calling out Amazon's AI garbage. Artists and consumers alike are demanding better, with some even calling for a boycott of Prime Video until Amazon improves its handling of voice acting and AI-generated content.
Prime Video has yanked an AI-generated recap video for Fallout's first season from its streaming platform after viewers pointed out it was riddled with inaccuracies. The clip, produced by Amazon's AI recap feature, was touted as the ability to "use AI to identify a show's most important plot points" and "create a visual summary." However, it got those "important plot points" alarmingly wrong.
The video's monotone text-to-speech narrator incorrectly stated that the show's flashbacks were set in the 1950s, when they are actually set in 2077. It also hallucinated an emotional climax for characters Walton Goggins' Ghoul and Ella Purnell's Lucy MacLean, saying they joined forces to find Lucy's father as a "die here or leave with me" scenario, when in reality, they were amicably pissed off.
Amazon has since pulled the video from Prime Video, after fans took to social media to express their outrage. The company's move can be seen as a proof of concept of bullying, given the adverse social media reaction to it on X/Twitter and Reddit. However, this isn't the first time Amazon has been taken to task by fans for its AI slop.
Just two weeks ago, subscribers noticed that Prime Video had released an AI beta for English and Latin American Spanish dubs for anime series Banana Fish, Vinland Saga, and No Game No Life. The issue wasn't so much the quality of the dubs but that it was an affront to voice actors, with Amazon charging extra on top of a monthly fee to remove ads.
Amazon's handling of the situation has been farcical. Kadokawa and Hidive, the company and streaming platform hosting No Game No Life, stated they had not approved an AI dub "in any form" and were unaware in advance about the feature. After criticism, Amazon rolled back its AI beta specifically for the English dub tracks, but not for the Latin American Spanish feature.
Subscribers have taken to cancelling their subscriptions in protest, with fans like Dragon Ball Super's Daman Mills going viral for calling out Amazon's AI garbage. Artists and consumers alike are demanding better, with some even calling for a boycott of Prime Video until Amazon improves its handling of voice acting and AI-generated content.