The World's First Fully AI-Dubbed Film is Set to Premiere, Triggering an Unemployment Crisis for Voice Actors!

The world's first movie fully translated and dubbed by AI, "Watch The Skies," is about to hit major theaters in the United States. This Swedish sci-fi film has been translated and dubbed by Flawless's TrueSync technology, utilizing artificial intelligence.

Flawless not only translates the dialogue into English but also uses AI technology to make the lip movements of all characters perfectly synchronized with English. The result is so realistic that it feels as if the movie was originally filmed in English.

Previously, watching English dubbed versions of foreign content often left viewers feeling uncomfortable. Thanks to the popularity of streaming platforms, watching dubbed Danish crime dramas or Spanish boarding school soap operas became an unsettling journey through the "uncanny valley." The "uncanny valley" is a widely used term referring to technologies that fail to convince us and instead blend human likeness into dystopian nightmares.

Flawless hopes to allow viewers to watch popular shows on streaming platforms and sleep peacefully at night without the discomfort of mismatched lip movements and brutal scene cuts, thanks to its proprietary technology, TrueSync. Flawless, founded by director Scott Mann and Nick Lynes in 2018, has made a remarkable impact in the field of AI dubbing with its technology. The company previewed snippets of its work at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which were exclusively shared by Variety.

Flawless's design aims to protect artistic copyrights and comply with Hollywood union regulations, raising significant questions about the value of international content and its potential to break through in the American market. Variety can also report that Flawless has officially entered the film distribution arena. The company has partnered with XYZ Films and Tea Shop Productions to acquire foreign film rights. The partnership will convert these projects into English and release them in relevant regions with the "perfect lip-sync visual effects" promised by Flawless. The first film to be released is Victor Dannell's award-winning sci-fi comedy "UFO Sweden," which will be released under the domestic title "Watch the Skies." A series of projects are expected to be launched in the coming months.

Mann discussed the fear and aversion to AI in the entertainment industry, building ethical guidelines, and the brain mechanisms of the uncanny valley in an in-depth interview with Variety. Below is the interview content:

How did you get started in this field?

It began in 2018. My background is in film directing, writing, and production. I stumbled upon an article introducing the world's first generative AI, titled "Deep Video Portrait," from the SIGGRAPH conference, which is essentially the Oscars of science. It blew my mind.

I've always worked in the field of visual effects, and it was clear what kind of impact this technology could have on our industry. I reached out to the authors of that paper, which led to the founding of the company with these individuals and my partner Nick Lynes. Christian Theobalt, Pablo Garrido, and Hyeongwoo Kim founded our science department and developed it into the world's leading computer-driven generative science department. It's our secret weapon.

There's a lot of fear and anxiety surrounding AI in Hollywood right now. Interestingly, your company is optimistic about it.

We founded the company from a filmmaking perspective. I love art, and our mission is to view this technology as having the ability to create tools. There's a different view that this is intended to eradicate creative people and steal art. To Napsterize it, to destroy for the sake of destruction. But we believe in the expression of human stories, and film is the most advanced form of that expression. Technology is amplifying this and adding more creativity. Then there's the whole economic aspect of the business, which relies on certain protections and an understanding of how it works.

There is a serious lack of education around AI in this city. How does that affect your business?

It's a global issue, not just in Hollywood. Education and understanding are key. Some companies—let's call them flawed—would rather not educate because it reveals an unscrupulous player. You need to honestly discuss where and how it's disruptive and where the positives lie. Over the past few years, we've prioritized understanding with studios and unions, including SAG-AFTRA, and said, "Look, this is how it should be used." The next round of AMPTP contract negotiations is something everyone should start talking about. There's a transformative thing coming into our industry, and we should be prepared.

Is the industry taking this issue seriously?

I can confidently say there has been a huge shift in attitude. Before the strike last year, people were cautious about approving AI projects. There were early conversations where people seemed to understand them and tried to improve the process. But there was a fear of crossing the line. The industry is currently in a bad state in some places, and many don't want to rush into the wrong solutions.

How did Flawless build its ethical guidelines?

It stemmed from personal issues I experienced as a filmmaker. I always wanted to fix film dubbing. I made a film that I was very careful with, a film called "Heist" starring Robert De Niro. It was so intimately made and delicate, and it was a joy to deliver what we did. I saw the foreign language versions dubbed. The script was completely rewritten, and the lip movements were completely different. I realized, "Oh my god, no wonder things don't spread well."

I had an idea to fix this problem, tried a lot of visual effects, like head scans and other nonsense. It wasn't practical and didn't cross the uncanny valley. It's a long way of saying that you can't do it ethically if you're removing and destroying entire areas that contribute to the film. We learned that ethics and legal rights go hand in hand.

Watching dubbed content in its current form is quite brutal, especially with the amplification of streaming.

As humans, we examine each other in great detail. If we see something unusual, our brains are programmed to go into high alert. In the evolution of filmmaking, our brains have been tricked and retrained. Your subconscious is checking reality. If something doesn't match—especially sound and vision—you immediately pose a huge barrier to any immersive emotion and credibility. Think about how much expression is conveyed through the face, gestures, and the actor's performance, even without hearing the voice. There's a lot there. All these reasons make [current dubbing] a problem. But it's good to have a clear problem to solve.

There's also a fairly transformative element here for international films. It could open up a new market for stars and eliminate many of the American language remakes celebrated films.

Showing our material to filmmakers, especially in the past year, they realize the potential from a local stage to a global stage. It's a huge opportunity to get your work out there, which has been very exciting. They're very excited about showing their work to a wider audience, especially in the US.

Have any studios or companies tried to fully acquire you?

Yes, when we first came to Hollywood. We had a very short sizzle reel in 2021, and some people tried to make an offer directly. Nick and I both agreed that we wanted to serve everyone, not just the interests of one studio. We wanted to be Switzerland because otherwise, it would be very limited. But this helped us raise funds and grow the company. It's a good problem to have.

You also want to get into the distribution game.

We've always seen ourselves as a kind of studio. We want to focus on the future. You need to do this correctly from pre-production, production to release. All these stages are affected by technology. My view is that we should increase the film audience tenfold. And make amazing films with these tools at a lower cost. If you look at our first film, "UFO Sweden," it's obviously been translated into English, but it also gives filmmakers the freedom to add and change things they couldn't afford the first time. You can choose to be like an algorithmic component trying to do a job, but I think the real power comes from making and distributing films. The whole thing. As far as post-production goes, we can do more. Look at Pixar, they can iterate their films before release.

The acquisitions of the joint venture will be led by Ryan Black, James Emanuel Shapiro of XYZ, and James Harris of Tea Shop.