Bloomberg reports on the impact of AI on the audiobook industry through Audible, the world’s largest audiobook retailer under the Amazon umbrella. It is a policy of Audible to clearly disclose when a “Virtual Voice” is used for narration, with over 40,000 audiobooks currently utilizing Virtual Voice technology (e.g., Audible’s Virtual Voice search results page).
The advantage of using Virtual Voice is the cost savings on narration and reduced production time. Author Hassan Osman mentioned in a blog post that Amazon’s Virtual Voice system significantly cuts down narration time from 3-4 weeks by humans to just 52 minutes with AI, eliminating the cost of hiring narrators at $500-700 per book to zero dollars due to Amazon’s free Virtual Voice system.
In terms of sound quality, Osman argues that the battle against expert narrators may be over, given the substantial cost and time savings with AI. Some Audible listeners may perceive a slight decline in narration quality, but looking at the average ratings of Virtual Voice audiobooks at 4+ stars, major publishers continue to emphasize AI narration for foreign language books that are challenging to find narrators for. Despite criticisms regarding AI potentially displacing human narrators, the trend persists.
Source: Bloomberg
TLDR: Bloomberg discusses AI’s impact on the audiobook industry through Audible, with Virtual Voice technology reducing costs and time for narration, though some listeners may notice a slight decline in quality. Major publishers continue to embrace AI for narrating foreign language books.
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