Apple’s AI Audio

The proliferation of AI tools continues to make waves in the publishing industry. Apple Books is en­couraging small presses and self-published authors to nominate titles for “digital nar­ration,” with plans to produce audiobooks narrated by AI voices. Apple says,

More and more book lovers are lis­tening to audiobooks, yet only a frac­tion of books are converted to audio – leaving millions of titles unheard. Many authors – especially indepen­dent authors and those associated with small publishers – aren’t able to create audiobooks due to the cost and complexity of production. Apple Books digital narration makes the creation of audiobooks more accessible to all, helping you meet the growing demand by making more books available for lis­teners to enjoy.

Authors/publishers will retain their audio rights, and are free to create other audio versions if they wish. Apple says it has a team focused on quality control, including “linguists, quality control specialists, and audio engineers to produce high-quality audiobooks from an ebook file.” Available voices for the AI narrators include “Madi­son, fiction/romance soprano” and “Jack­son, fiction/romance baritone.” For more see their website.

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