Artificial intelligence continues to impact various industries, and the world of audiobooks is no exception. Audible, Amazon’s audiobook platform, has launched a controversial project aimed at having professional narrators create digital replicas of their voices using AI. This experiment seeks to facilitate and accelerate audiobook production, allowing narrators to generate and automate their own cloned versions.
AI-Narrated Audiobooks
Audible has invited a small group of narrators to participate in a beta phase to train artificial intelligence with their voices. This trial aims to help narrators expand their capacity for producing audiobooks, allowing them to create digital voice replicas for free. Additionally, the company has stated it will implement a royalties system so narrators can receive financial compensation for each title created using their cloned voice, fairly reflecting the work involved in producing these voice replicas.
The company notes that narrators will retain significant control over the projects in which their cloned voices are used. They will even be able to edit pronunciation, pacing, and other details of the recordings, ensuring the final product meets their standards. This approach seeks to guarantee that AI-generated voices are used ethically and with the narrators’ consent.
Concerns About AI in Narration
While the technology for cloning voices promises to revolutionize the industry, it has also raised concerns. One of the most discussed risks is the unauthorized use of cloned voices. This issue was a major point of contention in the recent SAG-AFTRA actors' strike in the U.S., where actors demanded legal protections against the exploitation of their voices and likenesses through AI.
In this context, Audible assures that no voice replicas will be used without the narrators’ explicit approval. Titles created through this method will be clearly labeled and attributed to the professional narrators, thus avoiding confusion about the authenticity of the voices.
