Egregious Automaton: Retract

Ahem. So. Upon further investigation, it is possible that the primary source for the "AI voices" brouhaha may, in fact, have been full of crap. Or at the very least, does not work at Hasbro.

I still won't put it past them to pull this kind of crap in the future, but it doesn't appear to be as dire in the present as it could be. Lukewarm comfort at best, but I'll take it.

Comments

[TheGJ90]

Okay, a possible false alarm.

Still, keep our eyes and ears open, especially since we still don't know for sure as to why MYM was stopped.

[Moosetasm]

If their own efforts weren’t so self-defeating, I’d say they were trying to maximize profit. They truly are the masters of shooting themselves in the foot.

[The Iguana Man]

It's always morbidly interesting when this sort of potential revelation comes to light. Because with this, as with certain other claims in other areas (some of which are nasty enough I don't feel comfortable referring to them in this context), I've seen many people argue that the person or entity in question did the thing they're accused of; I've seen many argue that they didn't do it... but I've never seen anyone argue that they wouldn't do it.

Like, no one seems to be under the impression that this is in any way too horrible for Hasbro to do, just that they happened to not do this specific horrible thing.

[Daedalus Aegle]

Good, I hope so.

I have some regret for helping to propagate what may have been a completely false story. It's not a great feeling. It did feel very on the rumor side of the spectrum of knowledge.

[Ghost Mike]

Ah. So my initial belief that the TYT dubs had merely swapped voice actors/studios to cuts costs remains the case then. Still not a good sign for the future of MLP, if they are willing to skimp on proper dubs on a webseries with not-exactly-expensive animation.

[Herald of Opera]

5783600
Hasbro's CEO has actively supported this kind of AI usage. If anything, this is praising Cort Lane by assumed princples.

[GTthe4th]

I wouldn’t retract it just yet, not until we have final, definitive confirmation that it’s a false alarm. There’s still some possible evidence of AI usage within TYT dubs, even if this person is allegedly incorrect.

I’d wait a little longer, just in case. There’s no point in retracting only for new evidence to come up so that you have to retract the retraction.

[Loganberry]

Noted. Thank you. We'll see where it goes, I guess.

[FanOfMostEverything]

5783606
I am fully prepared to dedicate thirty blogs to this story as it develops.

[Impossible Numbers]

An update and correction is always welcome. Pays to keep on top of things, so thank you for the notice.

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5783600

This feels like that Powerpuff Girls episode where they're sent to beat up archvillain Mojo Jojo, only it turns out to be a prank: this time, he was just sleeping and reading the newspaper.

[Thought Prism]

It was easy to believe given their track record of late.

[DannyJ]

Cool, I guess. Thanks for the retraction.

[Mind Jack]

Never been relieved to be lied to before.

[Tape Deck]

Thanks for the clarification, but who knows if that is the true end to the story or not in this world.

[Herald of Opera]

5783615

This feels like that Powerpuff Girls episode where they're sent to beat up archvillain Mojo Jojo, only it turns out to be a prank: this time, he was just sleeping and reading the newspaper.

That's (WARNING! TVTROPES LINK INBOUND!) a whole-ass trope. And the page quote is from that exact scene.

[Mockingbirb]

To make my life more interesting, I plan from now on to believe EVERYTHING I read on social media!
...EXCEPT for your retraction.

[marmalado]

I know there's been talk of Hasbro incorporating AI into its IPs before, and the contrary isn't out of the question, but perhaps it won't be as big of a change as replacing VAs with the technology. It might just be minor things at first, things that save money and that most people won't notice unless they have keen sight and/or hearing.

Allegedly -- and I can't place enough emphasis on that because it's Twitter that gave me this information -- the guy who fed the false information to Hitch's French VA, Guillaume Troton, runs a Hasbro impersonator account on Instagram and used a fan animation to convince the VA he was, in fact, an actual employee of Hasbro, when he was not. Which most definitely has some illegality to it, with the added pain of kicking a person in the ass who is just doing their job.

Either way, thanks for keeping us in the loop, thirty blogs or no.

(For those interested and/or confuzzled, G5MLP has a potential timeline of events lined up.)

(ETA after ten million edits: there are no more edits. It's 5:30 in the morning and I was supposed to go to bed 2 hours ago and I have a wrenched shoulder that needs to heal. Thank you for tuning in to Marmy Morning Report, and I bid you all good morning.)

[TheJediMasterEd]

This is where I make an Emily Litella reference and you say "Okay boomer."

[FanOfMostEverything]

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media1.tenor.com/m/N910WJzMADQAAAAC/nevermind-ignore-it.gif
My parents made sure I had a classical education.

[PresentPerfect]

it's really only a matter of time

[TheJediMasterEd]

5783694

Jesus Christ Chevy Chase LOOK AT ALL THAT UNBALDNESS! LOOK AT ALL THAT UNFATNESS! LOOK AT ALL THAT UNSQUANDERED POTENTIAL!

[Daedalus Aegle]

Assuming you've seen it by now, but Hasbro finally put out a statement denying the AI allegations.