According to The Kitchen’s CFO, integrating AI resources into the company’s workflow creates efficiencies and reduces costs, but it does not replace the human factor.
With production by Luis Cabrera, from Los Angeles
From LA Screenings in Los Angeles, Josh Pine, CFO of The Kitchen, demystifies the use of artificial intelligence in the dubbing and content localization industry. He clarified, “AI won’t take your job, but someone who uses it well will.”
Thanks to AI, a linguist who used to take three days to subtitle a two-hour movie can now do it in one. “And in three days, he can do three movies. So he earns from three jobs, not one. We’re creating efficiencies with AI, not layoffs,” the executive noted.
That efficiency is essential. “Globalized content is growing by 30 to 40% annually. But the linguistic profession is only growing by 2%. Do the math: without technology, it doesn’t give,” Pine noted.
“All you hear is the buzz about AI: Will it save me money? Is it going to cut 85% of my costs? And clearly, the answer is no.”
According to Pine, one of the biggest challenges is simply educating the customer. “AI is an evolving technology. It’s not one thing,” he explains. “On the one hand, you have generative AI, ChatGPT, and others, but that doesn’t serve what we do. In our domain, we use what we call automation AI: tools specifically designed to solve operational problems. It’s a completely different game.”
With regard to customer concerns about the use of AI, Pine comments that the use of this resource depends on the customer. “It depends on the content, where it will be viewed, on a phone while someone is cooking, or on an 85-inch screen with surround sound? That makes a big difference,” he said.
For big-budget productions, “if you’re making a new Marvel movie, and it costs $100 million,” Pine clarifies that AI-generated voices are not an option. “The expectations are for perfection. Maybe we’ll use AI for translation, because it’s gotten so much better, but voices? We’re not at that level yet.”
But for low-budget projects or content aimed at FAST platforms, AI can be helpful. “It’s a good alternative. It’s a way to monetize content in countries where it wasn’t profitable before. You can try it, and if it works, invest more to improve it,” he stressed.
The human factor remains key
“AI complements our workflows, but it doesn’t replace them,” Pine emphasizes. “It’s not a matter of pushing a button and making everything perfect. People want that, but it’s not the practical reality.”
Even where AI is integrated, human intervention remains essential, mainly because of language variability. “Some languages perform better than others. It all depends on the data they were trained on. Data is everything,” said The Kitchen’s CFO.
“That determines how much human intervention is needed, which in turn defines the cost, and so the client decides whether it’s right for them,” he said.
As for the type of content, the effectiveness of AI also varies. “For a light drama or a documentary, machines work very well. But for reality shows with people screaming, forget it. If the human ear can’t distinguish what’s being said, neither can the machine,” Pine said.
Full integration
In The Kitchen, Pine insists that adopting AI is not the responsibility of a single department: it’s a company-wide priority. “We’re training the whole team, whether they’re in Madrid, Miami, or any other location, to understand what AI can and can’t do. If we fall behind, we won’t be able to catch up,” he concluded.
