In an effort to improve accessibility, Warner Bros Discovery has partnered with Google to bring AI-generated captions to its Max streaming platform The partnership leverages Google's latest generative AI technology to automatically generate closed captions to further improve the viewing experience for the hearing impaired and make content easily accessible to all viewers Closed captioning has long been recognized as a standard feature in the entertainment industry that allows users to follow dialogue and sound effects However, manual captioning is expensive and takes a long time to complete This is especially true for content-heavy channels like Max With the decision to leverage Google's AI technology, Warner Bros Discovery can create captions at a much faster rate while adapting to a variety of accents, dialects, and even casual speech styles that are difficult for traditional captioning systems This approach makes Max scalable because it can provide high-quality captions for its entire extensive and ever-growing content library

AI-generated captions have the potential to improve the viewing experience for all users This is especially true because many viewers are accustomed to multitasking Many viewers watch content with subtitles when they are in a noisy environment, learning a new language, or simply consuming content without audio Automating this process would make captioning available for all types of content, from blockbuster movies to niche programming, including foreign films Meanwhile, integrating AI into the captioning process will expand options for real-time captioning of live events and broadcasts As more platforms integrate live streaming into their services, the ability to provide instant AI-generated captions could become a key feature in gaining viewers who rely on this service First, the accuracy of AI captions, especially in complex and sensitive situations, is a concern and may require human oversight to ensure that its quality standards are superior Warner Bros Discovery has assured that the highest standards of captioning quality will be maintained in the future, which will allow AI to do the heavy lifting of captioning, but a human editor will always check the material for errors and misunderstandings before production