NHK ends AI subtitles after they used China's name for the Senkakus

Japan's public broadcaster NHK offered AI subtitles on live streams of its English-language international channel. The service used Google's translation API, had run since April 2020 and covered nine languages. On February 10, 2025, a news report mentioned the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. The Chinese subtitles used Diaoyu, the name China uses for the islands. Because the translation ran live, the error could not be fixed on air. NHK ended the subtitle service that day and announced it two days later. It said the error raised doubts about the service's reliability and accuracy. NHK's chairman said the broadcaster would speed up work on its own AI translation system.