ACX, which connects authors and voice narrators to produce audiobooks for Audible, has become the latest platform to launch an interesting AI tool in beta.
ALLi News Editor, Dan Holloway
You would be forgiven for thinking that the AI news is, as we might say in the writing world, one damn complaint after another. And this week, we have what seems to be another such complaint, though, as of yet, I haven’t seen much in the way of reaction.
Audible has, of course, had a history of not permitting audiobooks with AI-generated narration on its site. The rumor had always been that the reason behind this was that they were paving the way for their own AI tools, which they could lock people into using if they wanted to sell on Audible. Last week’s announcement of a new tool in beta is the latest step that lends credence to this.
Replicate Your Own Voice
What’s really interesting is the specific use case for the new AI narration tool and who it is being pitched to. ACX’s new AI tool will allow voice narrators to replicate their own voice. That is to say, if you are an in-demand voice actor, you will be able to fulfill that demand by having an AI produce the work you are not able to do yourself.
This would, in theory, mean extra revenue for voice actors and wider possibilities for writers currently competing for talent. A side effect, intuition suggests, will be that the number of voice actors making significant income will reduce, with more revenue going to a few in-demand names, while the middle gets squeezed—much like mainstream publishing has done for writers.
And that is before the largest question of all: How will the part of our industry that has been most at the sharp end of much of the latest wave of generative AI feel about being courted as the customer of a new wave? And what will ACX and Audible do now that the capability cat is out of the bag if there isn’t widespread take-up by voice artists?
