# Crunchyroll's German subtitles for an anime premiere contained the line 'ChatGPT said…'; the company said a third-party vendor had used AI-generated subtitles in violation of its agreement

Page: https://flyvolo.ai/en/changes/ev-20250701-translator-2
Date: 2025-07-01 · Stage: Constraint
Can this record move a task judgement? yes
Occupation: https://flyvolo.ai/en/careers/translator

## Scope

Entertainment subtitling, one streaming platform, one episode (Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show, ep. 1, 1 July 2025). The company's president had said in 2024 it was testing generative AI for subtitling; the failure was unreviewed vendor output.

## Source

- Engadget — https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/crunchyroll-blames-third-party-vendor-for-ai-subtitle-mess-145621606.html (secondary source)

## What this means

A constraint record that touches both linked tasks: a streaming platform's German subtitles shipped with 'ChatGPT said…' in them, and the platform's response was that its vendor had used AI subtitles in breach of contract. On the deployment layer it shows a buyer who contractually forbids raw machine output, and it shows the cost of skipping post-editing in public — the first draft is cheap, the unreviewed first draft is not.

## What it does not show yet

One episode on one platform, in entertainment subtitling — tight timing, vocal fans — does not describe technical, legal or corporate translation. The same company had said it was testing generative AI for subtitles, so the record is about who may use it and who checks it, not whether MT is used; and a contract clause is not evidence that post-editing pays translation rates.

## How to verify it yourself

Read the AI/MT clause in your current agency or client contract (or ask for it if you have never seen one) and note three things: whether machine output is allowed, whether you must disclose using it, and what the post-editing rate is relative to translation; those three lines are this record applied to your own work.


More: https://flyvolo.ai/llms.txt