Artificial Intelligence AI is 'swallowing' the audiobook recording profession

The growing demand for audiobooks globally has prompted major tech companies to start pouring resources into artificial intelligence (AI) to produce audiobooks at a faster pace and at a cheaper cost.

Voice-over and audiobook recording jobs face fierce competition from artificial intelligence - Photo: The New York Times

Many audiobook recorders and voiceover artists are at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).

"AI doesn't know what a groan of pain or pleasure sounds like. The human instinct for genuine emotion makes storytelling a primitive and precious skill."

This is a very honest confession to The Guardian from Annabelle Tudor, a Melbourne, Australia-based audiobook artist who has recorded 48 books in her career.

Her concern is not only about artificial intelligence taking over her job, but more deeply, she is worried that the audiobook and voiceover industry will lose the subtle, emotional connection between narrator and listener.

Fear of losing the rice bowl

According to The Guardian, Audible - an audiobook platform owned by Amazon - has recently deployed AI-integrated audiobook production technology from input to finished product, allowing the choice of more than 100 artificial voices in English, Spanish, French and Italian with many different dialects.

Audible also promises to update its technology to “upgrade the voice” over time. It also plans to roll out AI-powered audiobook translation this year. These moves are stirring up debate in the global publishing industry.

According to the NielsenIQ Bookdata 2024 report, more than half of Australian audiobook listeners said they had increased their listening time in the past five years.

In the US, audiobook sales are expected to increase by 13% in 2023-2024.

Meanwhile, in the UK, audiobook sales hit a record £268 million, up 31% on the previous year, according to figures from the British Publishers Association.

This is also the reason why Apple, Amazon and Spotify have launched AI-powered audiobook production programs. Since 2023, Amazon has allowed authors in the US to convert ebooks into audiobooks through a "virtual voice" on Kindle.

Jade Asha, a voice actress and audiobook recorder in the UK, said she has been doing this job since 2017 and considers it her main source of income.

She told The Mirror that after the Covid-19 pandemic, the voiceover market had become saturated. Now, AI is making this career opportunity even more narrow:

"We understand that using AI is cheaper than hiring a human to record a real voice. AI is improving very quickly and Audible's announcement makes me worry that our "bread and butter" will disappear forever in the future."

Audible - the audiobook platform owned by Amazon - recently deployed AI-integrated audiobook production technology, raising concerns in the global publishing industry.

AI Voiceovers Can Lose the Spirit of Storytelling

Dorje Swallow, an audiobook voiceover artist who has worked on the mystery novels of writer Chris Hammer, has recorded around 70 audiobooks. He believes that people who create AI voices “don’t understand the true value of voice storytelling.”

Simon Kennedy, President of the Australian Voice Actors Association, said that to complete an hour of audiobook, voiceover artists often take twice or three times as much time to record, not to mention the time spent reading the book carefully to understand the characters and tone.

According to Simon Kennedy, using AI to replace real voices is "prioritizing quantity over quality" and can "cheaper" audiobooks - Photo: IMDb

In a report to the Australian parliament , the Australian Voice Actors Association estimated that around 5,000 voiceover jobs in Australia are at risk from AI. Simon Kennedy is not surprised by Audible's new announcement, but calls it "a step in the wrong direction."

"Audiobook listeners have a special connection to a real voice. Cutting out that human emotion and replacing it with a cold, mechanical voice goes against the essence of the audiobook experience," Simon said.

Voice cloning technology

According to The Guardian , Audible claims that the goal of its AI-powered audiobook technology is to “complement, not replace, human voices.” They said that in 2023 and 2024, the company hired more audiobook artists than ever before.

Audible is even experimenting with “voice cloning” technology, which would allow voiceover artists to create copies of their own voices for automated recording.

Simon Kennedy said voice artists should consider taking part but "should not expect to be paid fairly and risk turning their voice - their personal property - into the property of a series of soulless robots".

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tri-tue-nhan-tao-ai-dang-nuot-luon-nghe-thu-am-sach-noi-20250707205031377.htm