Audible deploys AI-narrated audiobooks. Can it replace the human touch? | TechCrunch Minute

When it comes to audiobooks can AI Replicate the human touch audible is Making it easy for authors to use AI to Narrate their audiobooks however the Move is making some critics and Consumers concerned according to Bloomberg audible now has over 40,000 Books that are read by generative AI Authors especially those self-published Or with smaller budgets praise the tool For being quick and effective and cheap Hassen Osman of the writer on the side Blog said turning one of his books into An a AUD book took only 52 minutes However some listeners are complaining That while audiobooks are marked if They're read by AI listeners can't Filter out those titles that said an Audible spokesperson says the AI Narrated books have an average rating of More than four so there must be some Listeners out there who just don't mind Where Amazon which owns audible goes the Industry goes as well so it's not a huge Shock that we are seeing generative AI Narration pop up across the publishing World Harper Collins has announced a Partnership with 11 labs to use AI to Create quote audiobooks for Harper Collins foreign language business According to the startup Google has 40 AI voices including Mary a female voice Archie who sounds British and Santiago Who speaks Spanish for what it describes

As auton narrated audiobooks and then in The case of Apple they use Madison Jackson and Warren for fiction and Helena and Mitchell to take on Non-fiction and self-development though In the case of Apple the narrators are Actually cloned from the voices of Pros Who have licensed the right to their Voices but while these narrators may be Cheap some leaders in the industry Wonder if the best use of AI in Audiobooks is not straight up narration But translation regardless when it comes To putting generative AI to work if it Saves time and money that seems to be The very first place we want to use it Now the AI red audiobook controversy Stems from the concern that real humans Are going to get dropped in favor of Cheaper robots that Travis btry might Get supplanted and there is an echo here Of the push and pull that we're seeing With AI in the music world one in which Artists are mostly opposed to AI Replacing humans but that sounds like an Interindustry issue why should consumers Care well just like in music if we move Away from humans to robots for our audio Products something could be lost despite My being a massive AI bll I sincerely Doubt that AI will be ever able to Create seminal records like Master of Puppets I presume that AI will get very Very good at making variations of that

Album but to come up with something Truly original and truly perfect I'm not Sure though I wasn't a big audiobook guy I mean just look behind me until I had a Kid and my free time got squeezed now I Audiobook whenever possible and it has Kept me in the fiction game part of my Love for the audio form of books are What the narrator brings to the telling They really don't just read they enhance AI in contrast until it can sort out Mood from text and nail the ups and Downs is always going to come off as Comparatively sterile now obviously this All comes down to money artificial Voices are cheaper and quicker and if Some Publishers believe it's quantity Over quality when it comes to audiobooks That AI is going to be reading to many People in the near future and for Indie Authors who just can't afford to get Their books read professionally well I Can see AI having a pretty big role and No hard feelings so in the and this is a Bit like most AI stories today there's a New tech extending what can be done as We sort out at the very same time What Should be done and the person in between Those two forces getting squeezed well It's always the creative human more Tomorrow