@Cheri Well reasoned. I’m less sure than you are about AI narration. It will never be as good as a human with real emotions.
Maybe AI will get “good enough,” but then I’d bet it would get baked into devices like the Kindle rather than sold as a separate format.
@Cheri Always good to get that kind of understanding. As a reader of your books, I'm thrilled to hear you'd rather write than voice. 😆
@Miraz Thanks, and me too! I enjoy learning new things but in this case I'd rather spend that time writing. 🙂
@fgtech Word is that Google is developing an AI audiobook engine for use in the Google Play bookstore. So far, Audible (Amazon) is prohibiting synthetic voices. It'll be interesting to see it play out!
@Cheri I am sure that screen readers work today for those with limited eyesight. I would bet that someone has data (maybe at Audible?) showing a preference for human-read audiobooks among this population.
Not against AI projects, but I think the result will be inferior for this.
@fgtech @Cheri I let VoiceOver read for me when my eyes are too tired. 😊 I think it's definitely good enough and has been for a while. At least for non-fiction.
The Swedish audiobook streaming service Storytel does allow synthetic voices in its library. On this page, you can listen to an example in English. I think it sounds pretty decent with a dynamic voice – complete with breathing noises! Imagine what it will sound like in the future.
I think there will always be a market for authentic voiceovers. I, for one, will happily pay a premium to get a non-synthetic voice for my audiobooks today. But tomorrow? I don't know.
@sod @pilchuck Most of the screen reader voices I’ve heard sound pretty robotic! The AI audiobook voices are much improved, but they still lack the grit and creativity offered by human voices. A few examples of upgraded synth voices here.
@Cheri I don’t know why I keep chiming in but I guess I feel strongly about this and haven’t totally figured out what my point is.
@Cheri I think my point is this: AI has its place. We should use computing power where it benefits us. Replacing humans voicing real emotions with realistic but synthetic voices that cannot capture the emotional content is not what computers do well and is of dubious benefit.