Crunchyroll Blames Third-Party for AI Subtitles After Fans Spot “ChatGPT Said…” in New Anime Episode

Crunchyroll is facing backlash after fans discovered AI-generated subtitles in one of its new anime shows, Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show. The problem was first noticed when the German subtitles included a line that started with “ChatGPT said…” during an important scene in the debut episode.

Fans quickly pointed out how sloppy and confusing the subtitles were, and even the English subtitles weren’t much better.

The streaming service confirmed that the subtitles were created by a third-party vendor using AI, which went against Crunchyroll’s rules. A company spokesperson told Engadget, “We were made aware that AI-generated subtitles were employed by a third-party vendor, which is in violation of our agreement. We are investigating the matter and are working to rectify the error.”

This isn’t the first time Crunchyroll has had subtitle troubles. Last year, the company temporarily removed the first episode of The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons after viewers complained about bad subtitles with missing punctuation and unclear translations. At that time, some fans thought AI might have been used to create the subtitles.

Back in early 2023, Crunchyroll’s President Rahul Purini told The Verge that the company was “very focused on testing” AI tools to help with subtitles and captions. Purini explained the goal was to get translated episodes online closer to their original Japanese release dates, hoping that faster official subtitles might reduce piracy.

But fans are frustrated now because they pay for Crunchyroll subscriptions, which start at $8 a month, and expect good quality. One user on Bluesky, Pixel, wrote, “This is not acceptable. How can we be expected to pay for a service that clearly doesn’t care about the quality of its products?” Their post has been widely shared and quoted by thousands.

Some viewers have even said the official AI subtitles are “unwatchable” and are turning instead to pirated versions with better fan-made subtitles. Similar complaints are popping up on Reddit and other social media platforms.

Crunchyroll is now working to fix the subtitle issues, but this incident highlights how using AI in subtitling still has its challenges. Fans want quality and accuracy, and they’re not happy when a company they pay can’t deliver that.

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