2024 

2024 brought its fair share of challenges, but overcoming them was key to everything we achieved. Here’s what happened in 2024 and what’s on the roadmap for 2025.

Launching groundbreaking emotion-transfer technology

The machine learning team took on a problem that the entire industry has been grappling with: how to transfer emotions across languages. In June, we launched our breakthrough technology, Cross-Lingual Prosody Transfer (XLPT): the market's first system that automatically translates, maps, and controls emotion from one language to another.

Why it matters:

• This breakthrough makes expressive dubbing scalable, enabling companies to connect with their audiences like never before—regardless of language

• Expressive AI dubbing makes content consumable in any language, and by consumable, we mean content that isn't just available but that is engaging and retains global audiences

What our head of machine learning says about XLPT:

Unlocking new content types

We unlocked new content types, including reality TV and kids’ programming. These formats present unique challenges—think unscripted, fast-paced dialogue or high-energy voiceovers—but the advancements in our technology have enabled us to rise to the challenge.

Dubbing primetime hits

One of our proudest achievements was localizing a primetime U.S. show that outperformed football in viewership on a competing channel. It’s a testament to how AI-powered localization can amplify the reach and success of top-tier content.

Dubbing one of the largest US sports league finals

We’re not at liberty to reveal the customer, but we dubbed the finals of one of the U.S.’s biggest sports leagues. The project was not without its challenges: niche, sport-specific glossaries had to be integrated into our AI workflows, and our team of professional translators fully inducted into the sport lexicon. The dubbed output, though, was a real win all around. 

Starting working with one of the biggest networks in the US

We always feel honored to work with big networks and broadcasters, not only because their content is viewed by millions of people worldwide but because their standards are so high. Collaborating with these sorts of customers is a testament to the quality of our dubbing and the impetus to push the boundaries of what’s possible with AI dubbing. 

Scaling our voice options

This year, we launched our pitch shift feature, which allowed us to expand our library of voices from hundreds to thousands. The feature enables us to offer more diversity and flexibility in our voices, better reflecting the intent of the source content.

Gaining industry recognition

We were honoured to win industry awards last year for our work: a Digiday TV and Video Award for ‘Best Use of Generative AI’ for our work with Business Insider, a Video Week European Video Award for ‘Best Use of AI’, and being named one of Europa’s 100 hottest tech startups. 

Partnering with Google Cloud

Our partnership with Google Cloud has supercharged our capabilities. With cutting-edge computing power, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in AI localization.

What is in store for 2025?

As we gear up for 2025, here are some of the leadership team’s key trends and goals for the year ahead. 

“We’ll continue to make quality AI dubbing scalable.” Jesse Shemen, Papercup CEO 

"In 2025, we'll take our core machine learning speech models to even higher levels of expressivity and naturalness across a wider swath of speaking styles and content genres." James Leoni, Head of Machine Learning

"2024 was the year of YouTube on TV. 2025 will be the year of TV on YouTube. Expect studios to launch Single IP channels and lean into the new leader of the living room." Garrett Goodman, VP of Sales 

"In 2025, we’ll be increasing our capacity and turnaround times to better serve client demand and developing more integrated workflows and systems to provide our clients with greater visibility into the tracking of assets, project status, and the facilitation of creative reviews." Gemma O’Kane, Client Lead 

"2024 was the year of events and in-person connections. In 2025 we'll see a continuation of that with an emphasis on organic communities as a key driver to help companies nurture and grow their business." Amir Jirbandey, Head of Growth

Needless to say, it’s going to be an exciting year ahead. Here’s to breaking more AI dubbing barriers in 2025!