If you’re a fan of audio books, Apple has just given you a taste of the future by launching its first line of AI-narrated books. But while the move is an intriguing one with high impact, the robotic tones of the narrators show that the much-loved human voices will be around for some time.
You can find the AI-language audiobooks that use text-to-speech translation in the Apple Books app by searching for “AI Narration”. This brings up a list of romance or fiction books (both free and paid) with the description “Told by Apple Books.”
Apple Books offers two types of AI voices — a soprano called Madison and a baritone called Jackson — both of which have an American accent and currently only speak in English. You can get a taste of what they’ll sound like by tapping the “Preview” button under any of the titles narrated by Apple Books.
Right now, both of Apple’s AI voices undoubtedly have a robotic, artificial quality. You won’t easily confuse them with the warm, punchy tones of popular storytellers like Stephen Fry or Julia Whelan. But while the uncanny valley remains a difficult obstacle for AI narrators, for our ears they are undoubtedly in the fast lane.
Naturally, apple says (opens in new tab) Its AI voices are designed to make audiobooks “more accessible to everyone”. But they’re also making the multibillion-dollar audiobook industry more accessible to tech giants. And the new Apple Books feature is just the beginning of a bitter battle with companies like Amazon and Spotify for our audiobook-loving ears.
express concerns
For now, we’ll mostly see AI narrators, limited to books from smaller independent publishers. This could result in an explosion in the number of audiobooks available to readers on all devices, as digital narration opens up a new market for publishers and authors who previously couldn’t afford the jump from print to audio.
But opposition from larger publishers and voice actors could also slow the rise of robo-narrators. Amazon’s Kindle e-readers officially lost their text-to-speech capabilities a few years ago, although there are workarounds in the accessibility menus. This decision was at least partly due to the fact that copyright issues and audiobooks were legally considered separate works of art.
Amazon’s own Audible has too written in detail (opens in new tab) about which narrators suit different types of books and how publishers choose the right ones. His blog says that “the most important aspect of audio books is that the voice fits the tone and genre of the book”. This is a bit tricky to achieve when, like Apple Books, you only have two voices.
Audible also says that “experienced voice actors are able to distinguish between vocal characteristics fairly easily by playing with pitch, intonation, volume and accents”. Evening courses in emotional reflection.
But the new Apple Books feature is clearly just the beginning of an inevitable boom in AI speech technology. And the really big moment for audiobooks could be when, instead of robotically reading a script, AI can convincingly impersonate a famous voice actor — a leap that might not be too far off based on recent showcases from companies like Amazon.
Fake Empire
After all, deepfakes aren’t just limited to frighteningly convincing videos of a synthetic Morgan Freeman (opens in new tab) or Tom cruise (opens in new tab) – AI-powered speech technology is also developing rapidly.
Viral web apps like overpressure (opens in new tab) Let the voices of past presidents or cartoon characters get you talking in the past year Amazon showed up (opens in new tab) a slightly terrifying new Alexa skill that could read the Wizard of Oz to a child in his grandmother’s voice.
With people like Google Wavenet (opens in new tab) Even as technology advances, AI voices will only get more compelling. For now, the barriers to widespread audiobook adoption are likely to be more legal and ethical than technological. But Apple Books’ artificial narrators are the sound of our synthetic future — and in the not-too-distant future, famous speakers will likely copyright and license their own voices, too.
For now, the evidence in Apple Books suggests these AI voices are currently best suited for non-fiction and non-fiction, rather than emotional storytelling. In novels, as in movies, we’re a long way from artificial actors being able to convincingly tug at our hearts without ruining the suspense with a robotic inflection or flat note. But a deluge of AI audiobooks is definitely coming, regardless.
