Amazon Empowers Audible Narrators to Clone Voices with AI Innovation

Amazon begins testing voice copies of Audible narrations created by AI to speed up audiobook production. Audible narrators can manage their AI renditions and receive payment for each project, yet worries about the potential impact on human performers intensify.

This week, Amazon will start asking a small group of Audible narrators to train AI-generated voice copies of themselves. The goal is to accelerate the creation of audiobooks for the platform.

The creator marketplace on Audible announced the US-only beta test. Amazon says that rights holders like authors, agents, and publishers will be able to join “later this year.”

Amazon said in its announcement, “There is a huge catalog of books that do not yet exist in audio form. As we look into ways to bring more books to life on Audible, we are committed to carefully balancing the interests of authors, narrators, publishers, and listeners.”

For the beta, participants must record their voice and send it in so an AI can learn it. They can also choose which projects to audition for in person and on AI recordings.

Narrators can use Amazon’s production tools to change the pronunciation and speed of their AI voice copy if a rights holder chooses them for a project. They can also use these tools to check the final production for any mistakes or inaccuracies.

Amazon says that narrators will be paid on a “title-by-title basis” through a “Royalty Share” model, but they didn’t say how much voice artists can expect to make.

The blog post about the announcement says that beta testers can make a voice replica “for free.” This suggests that narrators may have to pay upfront if the feature becomes available to everyone in the future.

Amazon’s Virtual Voices Raise Concerns

There will be a note on the product detail page for any titles that voice actors read. Amazon said, “Narrators decide what works are read with their voice replica.” “Audible will not use a voice copy of a narrator for any other content without their permission.”

Last year, Amazon added a similar feature that lets Kindle Direct Publishing authors turn their books into audiobooks with completely made-up voices.

In May, Bloomberg reported that since the release of Audible, virtual voices have been used on 40,000 titles. This made narrators like Ramon de Ocampo worry that the feature would make it harder for human performers to find work.

Many websites, including Brian’s Book Blog, have pointed out that Audible doesn’t make it simple for users to avoid these “Virtual Voice” audiobooks at this time.