"They will make more money, they will make more recordings," he said. Given the costs of human-based recording, he added, only some five percent of all books are turned into audio books.īut Abramov insisted that the growing market would also benefit voice actors. "Synthetic narration just opened the door for old books that have never been recorded, and all the books from the future that never will be recorded because of the economics," added Speechki's Abramov. "We have to democratize the publishing industry, because only the most famous and the big names are getting converted into audio," said Taylan. Google is offering a similar service, which it describes as "auto-narration." technology, deeply involved in the explosively developing field of AI, are all pursuing the promising business of digitally narrated audio books.Įarly this year, Apple announced it was moving into AI-narrated audio books, a move it said would make the "creation of audio books more accessible to all," notably independent authors and small publishers. "However, as text-to-speech technology improves, we see a future in which human performances and text-to-speech generated content can coexist." "Professional narration has always been, and will remain, core to the Audible listening experience," said a spokesperson for that Amazon subsidiary, a giant in the American audio book sector. publishing houses did not respond to requests for comment.īut professionals contacted by AFP said several traditional publishers are already using so-called generative AI, which can create texts, images, videos and voices from existing content - without human intervention. Speechki, a Texas-based start-up, uses both its own recordings and voices from existing databanks, said CEO Dima Abramov.īut that is done only after a contract has been signed covering usage rights, he said. They say that it doesn't belong to anybody."Īll the audio book companies contacted by AFP denied using such practices. "They take your voice, my voice, five other people's voices combined that just creates a separate voice. "There's that gray area" being exploited by several platforms, Taylan acknowledged. "All these new companies are popping up who are not as ethical," she said, and some use voices found in databases without paying for them. Not everyone respects that standard, said Eby. "Every voice that we are using, we sign a license agreement, and we pay for the recordings," said DeepZen CEO Kamis Taylan.įor every project, he added, "we pay royalties based on the work that we do." The small London-based company draws from a database it created by recording the voices of several actors who were asked to speak in a variety of emotional registers. There is no label identifying AI-assisted recordings as such, but professionals say thousands of audio books currently in circulation use "voices" generated from a databank.Īmong the most cutting-edge, DeepZen offers rates that can slash the cost of producing an audio book to one-fourth, or less, that of a traditional project. While other factors could be at play, she told AFP, "It seems to make sense that AI is affecting all of us." Many of her colleagues report similar declines. Her bookings now run only through June, while in a normal year they would extend through August. She has a recording studio in her home.īut in the past six months she has seen her work load fall by half. Tanya Eby has been a full-time voice actor and professional narrator for 20 years. Many of them are already seeing a sharp drop off in business. As people brace for the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence on jobs and everyday living, those in the world of audio books say their field is already being transformed.ĪI has the ability to create human-sounding recordings - at assembly-line speed - while bypassing at least part of the services of the human professionals who for years have made a living with their voices.
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