Of course. Here is a comprehensive summary of the news report, formatted as requested. ### **Summary of News Report: Crunchyroll's Use of AI for Subtitles** This report details an incident where the anime streaming service Crunchyroll used AI-generated subtitles for a new series, resulting in significantly poor quality and contradicting the company's public statements on its use of artificial intelligence. * **News Type:** News Report / Technology & Pop Culture Analysis * **Provider:** The Verge * **Author:** Charles Pulliam-Moore * **Publication Date:** July 2, 2025 * **Original Title:** "Crunchyroll ran embarrassingly bad ChatGPT subtitles on its new anime series" --- ### **1. Main Findings: Poor Quality, AI-Generated Subtitles** This week, subscribers viewing the new anime series *Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show* on Crunchyroll discovered that the English subtitles were of exceptionally poor quality. The issues went beyond typical errors, indicating a lack of human review. * **Evidence of AI Use:** The subtitles were riddled with typos and grammatical mistakes. Crucially, some subtitle lines explicitly began with the phrase **"ChatGPT said"**, which all but confirms the use of the generative AI tool for translation. * **Example of Poor Quality:** A specific example of the flawed subtitles cited in the report is the sentence: `"Is gameorver. if you fall, you are out"`. * **Impact on Viewers:** The article concludes that such poorly written subtitles create a "worse watching experience" and detract from the authenticity of the program. --- ### **2. Contradiction with Official Company Stance** The use of AI for subtitling is in direct opposition to previous statements made by Crunchyroll's leadership regarding its creative process. * **President's Previous Comments:** In an April interview with *Forbes*, Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini explicitly stated the company was **`"not considering AI in the creative process"`**. * **Stated Rationale:** Purini emphasized a desire to "maintain the authenticity of its series and films" and stressed that AI would not be used in ways that would impact voice actors. * **Permitted AI Use:** At the time, Purini noted that Crunchyroll was exploring AI for non-creative applications, such as improving "discoverability, recommendations, and personalization." * **Company Response:** The report notes that Crunchyroll did not respond to The Verge's questions regarding the production of the subtitles for *Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show* or its quality control measures. --- ### **3. Broader Concerns and Industry Context** The incident is framed as a significant example of the potential pitfalls of the entertainment industry's rapid adoption of generative AI. * **Devaluation of Human Professionals:** The fiasco highlights the essential role that professional human translators and localization teams play in producing high-quality art for global audiences. The use of unedited AI output is seen as a move that puts these jobs at risk. * **Corporate Motivation vs. Quality:** The author speculates that Crunchyroll's motivation may be to accelerate the release of subtitled content to stream shortly after its Japanese debut. However, this speed comes at the cost of quality and brand authenticity. * **Risk to Authenticity:** The report concludes that while Crunchyroll has expressed a desire to be a "lifestyle brand" and maintain authenticity, using unvetted AI for subtitles is "anything but 'authentic.'"
Crunchyroll ran embarrassingly bad ChatGPT subtitles on its new anime series
Read original at The Verge →Charles Pulliam-Moore is a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.The subtitles for one of Crunchyroll’s newest anime series make it pretty clear that the company is going all in on ChatGPT.
This week as viewers logged on to Crunchyroll to check out Studio Gokumi’s Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, many were surprised to see that the series’ subtitles were filled with typos, grammatical errors, and explicit references to ChatGPT. The subtitles seemed very much like text that had been generated with AI and slapped onto Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show without first being reviewed and edited for accuracy.
Errors in subtitles aren’t unheard of, but sentences like “Is gameorver. if you fall, you are out” are an entirely different kind of bad. And the fact that some of the subtitles literally start with “ChatGPT said” all but confirms that the text was generated with AI.Crunchyroll has been open about its desire to use AI as it focused on becoming more of a lifestyle brand.
But this situation is decidedly at odds with Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini’s past comments about the company having no plans to use AI to produce its programming.Speaking to Forbes back in April, Purini said that Crunchyroll was “not considering AI in the creative process” out of a desire to maintain the authenticity of its series and films.
Purini also stressed that Crunchyroll would not use AI in ways that would impact voice actors.But Purini said that the company was actively looking into ways that it could use AI to improve discoverability, recommendations, and personalization. Crunchyroll did not respond to our questions about how Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show’s subtitles are produced and what sort of steps the company takes to prevent errors like this from making it into shows.
Everything about this fiasco speaks to the important role that translators and localization teams play in producing quality art that’s consumed by audiences across the world. This also highlights the pitfalls of the entertainment industry’s rush to embrace generative AI while putting real people’s jobs at risk.
From Crunchyroll’s perspective, using ChatGPT to churn out subtitles as quickly as possible might seem like a good idea in terms of making it easier to get shows streaming shortly after their Japanese debuts. But subtitles this poorly written make for a worse watching experience and are anything but “authentic.
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