In an interview with technology news website The Verge on its Decoder podcast on Monday, Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini confirmed that the company is testing the use of generative A.I. (artificial intelligence) on subtitling and closed captioning. The testing is an effort to “optimize [their] processes” to allow them to release subtitles in more languages closer to the Japanese release date of seasonal anime episodes.

The company is also testing generative A.I. to assist users in personalizing their experience and discovering titles, and is testing A.I. in general for different workflows in the company.

Crunchyroll previously released poor-quality subtitles for the first episode of The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons television anime in October 2023, then removed the episode after complaints over the subtitles spread on social media and Crunchyroll‘s own website. It reuploaded the episode with updated subtitles after a week, explaining that it “work[ed] with the licensor of the series” for the updated subtitles.

Sony‘s Funimation Global Group completed its acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T on August 9, 2021, after the company first announced the acquisition in December 2020. The purchase price was US$1.175 billion, and the proceeds were paid in cash at closing. Funimation‘s home video releases are now listed under Crunchyroll.

Thanks to KitKat1721 for the news tip.

Sources: The Verge (Decoder) (Nick Statt) via CBR