When You Enter Text, an Announcer Dubs It... AI Voices Gain Popularity

Naver Clova Dubbing Surpasses 1 Million Subscribers

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] A service that allows users to add desired voices to video content simply by inputting text is gaining popularity. This service uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology that recognizes text and converts it into speech, and it is evolving to express emotions as well.

According to Naver on the 4th, the AI dubbing service 'CLOVA Dubbing' has surpassed 1 million subscribers. This marks a tenfold increase in just over two years since reaching 100,000 subscribers in June 2020.

CLOVA Dubbing is Naver’s text-to-speech service that enables users to apply desired AI voices to video content by inputting text alone. It offers a variety of AI voices based on speech synthesis technology.

Currently, CLOVA Dubbing provides 193 different voices. These include various styles based on gender, age, and nationality, as well as voices suited for specific situations such as reporters, shopping hosts, and narrations.

In practice, CLOVA Dubbing is widely used in many types of content, including small business store and product introduction videos, startup advertisements, personal vlogs, and pet videos. To date, it has recorded approximately 33 million dubbing instances and about 3.7 million dubbed content downloads.

The number of AI voices created by general users through 'Voice Maker,' which allows anyone to create high-quality custom voices using only smartphone recordings, is also rapidly increasing.

Among the AI voices currently offered on CLOVA Dubbing, about 100 voices were created through Voice Maker, accounting for half of all voices. It is explained that the voices of general users increase the diversity of AI voices within CLOVA Dubbing, providing a rich selection of dubbing options.

CLOVA Dubbing plans to continuously expand the range of AI voices it offers. Recently, it added four new voices that speak British English, bringing the total number of English voices to ten.

Beyond offering voices with various moods such as 'calm,' 'friendly,' and 'clear-cut,' there are plans to add a feature that allows a single voice to express different emotions.

Jaemin Kim, Chief Leader of Naver CLOVA CIC, said, "As demand for video content production continues to increase, CLOVA Dubbing has received positive responses by providing voices suitable for segmented content production purposes. We are building an AI voice ecosystem where users can directly participate in voice creation through Voice Maker, and we will continue to explore ways for CLOVA Dubbing’s AI voices to be utilized in various businesses and services alongside dubbed content."