YouTube star Charles ‘MoistCr1tikal’ White was left completely baffled after learning that he’s been ‘cloned’ on Chinese social media, where users are reuploading his content in perfect Mandarin using his voice and cadence.
MoistCr1tikal is an American content creator based in Florida, known for his monotone voice and deadpan humor.
His deep voice is a signature part of his brand and impossible to miss, so when viewers in China began reuploading his YouTube videos using AI to make him speak perfect Chinese, the influencer couldn’t believe his eyes – or his ears.
The YouTuber reacted to this phenomenon in a video on February 6, showing a clip someone had manipulated with AI to show him speaking fluent Chinese, monotone voice and all.
Content creators are speaking fluent Chinese with AI ‘clones’
The user was reuploading content from multiple high-profile influencers on the Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili, though not all were dubbed over in Chinese with AI. Many only had Chinese subtitles, such as Markiplier and xQc.
Given the sheer amount of videos that had been reuploaded from these creators, he theorized that this could be the start of a growing trend that might affect most high-profile Internet personalities in the near future.
”This experiment seems to be going very well for this channel. So, I think it’s something you’re going to see for every YouTuber and streamer pretty soon. It looks like I was just part of its initial wave,” he speculated.
This is the latest creator-focused marvel of translation to catch social media’s attention; YouTube icon MrBeast famously revealed that he translates his videos into multiple different languages to reach a broader audience, though he hires voice actors to fill these roles.
YouTube itself boasts an auto-dub feature built into its platform, allowing viewers to watch content in their own language. The website is even rolling out AI-powered lip syncing to make these dubs even more fluid, but it could cost viewers more to use.
