YouTube recently introduced an autodubbing feature that uses AI to automatically translate and voiceover videos into multiple languages. On paper, this sounds like a fantastic development—especially for content creators like myself. It opens the doors to a global audience without the cost of hiring voice actors or managing multiple language-specific channels.
However, as with many new features rolled out by YouTube (and Google in general), the execution leaves much to be desired.
The Upside: Broader Reach, Lower Costs
Before this feature existed, only large YouTube channels had the resources to provide multilingual content. Smaller creators were limited to adding subtitles—if they had the time or means to do so.
Autodubbing, in theory, removes that barrier. It automatically generates captions using speech-to-text technology and then translates them into other languages using an AI voiceover. This promises more inclusive content for viewers who don’t speak the original language of a video.
The Downside: Autodubbing Done the “YouTube Way”
While the idea is solid, the implementation is problematic:
1. Quality Issues with Captions
YouTube still struggles with accurate captioning. It fails to recognize brand names, skips sentences, and completely misses irony, wordplay, or jargon—resulting in robotic and often misleading translations.
2. No Control Over the Feature
Creators can’t easily disable autodubbing. Once the AI voiceovers are added to a video, you can’t:
Trim the video
Blur content
Add music from YouTube’s library
And if you delete the autodub tracks to make these edits, you can’t regenerate them later.
3. Language Inequality
Videos originally in English get translated into multiple languages. But if the original is in another language, it typically only gets translated into English. That’s frustrating for international creators and bilingual audiences alike.
Multilingual Viewers Are Ignored
Many viewers, like myself, understand multiple languages and prefer to hear the original audio. But YouTube assumes everyone wants a dub in their “preferred” language—often determined by your location, interface language, or possibly even IP address.
The real kicker? There’s no global setting to turn off autodubbing.
You can manually switch to the original audio by tapping the gear icon—but only in the app or desktop browser. If you’re using YouTube through a mobile browser, you’re out of luck.
Workarounds and Unofficial Fixes
Until YouTube provides official settings, here are some alternatives:
Change Your Google Account Language Settings
Visit your Google Account Language Preferences and add all the languages you speak. This might prevent some unwanted translations—but takes up to 48 hours to take effect across all services.
Use Browser Extensions
There are Chrome and Firefox extensions originally created to disable auto-translated titles and descriptions, which now also help stop autodubbing. These work well on desktop browsers but not on mobile.
Use YouTube ReVanced (Advanced Users)
Though not officially supported, ReVanced lets you:
Spoof the video stream as an iOS TV device
Force original audio language
Creators should be aware that apps like ReVanced hurt channel performance due to ad and sponsor blocking—but they remain widely used.
Final Thoughts: Half-Baked but Hopeful?
YouTube’s autodubbing could be a game-changer for both creators and viewers—if implemented thoughtfully. Currently, it’s more of a headache than a help, especially for bilingual users who want control over their viewing experience.
Hopefully, YouTube will introduce a simple toggle or setting to manage this feature soon. Until then, we’re stuck with clunky workarounds.