For several years, synthetic voices have been gaining traction, accelerated by the generative AI surge of the early 2020s. AI voices are now prevalent in various domains, including podcasts, political campaigns, and chatbots, where they often imitate celebrity voices. Additionally, they are beginning to enter the realm of audiobooks.
Audible, an audiobook company owned by Amazon, recently announced a trial program to develop AI voice clones for reading works within its audiobook marketplace. This initiative was revealed in a post on ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange), Audible’s service that assists authors and publishers in converting written texts into audiobooks.
The post stated that Audible is cautiously testing new technologies to expand its catalog and has invited a select group of narrators to participate in a US-only beta. This beta allows narrators to create and monetize AI-generated replicas of their own voices. Audible assured that both narrators and authors would retain control over the projects utilizing their AI voices, and that final narrations would undergo review in ACX’s production process for errors like mispronunciations.
This development may seem somewhat contradictory to Audible’s existing approach to audiobook narration, which mandates human narrators, according to ACX’s submission requirements. However, Amazon has already shown a strong commitment to AI, having introduced a similar AI audio initiative for its Kindle Direct Publishing platform the previous year.
Currently, Audible’s program is limited to a small group of participating narrators. Nonetheless, it is conceivable that this could expand to allow any author to generate an AI voice for their book. Other companies are also exploring this space; for instance, the startup Rebind is enabling authors to clone their voices so that an AI version can guide readers through their texts. Audiobook enthusiasts have expressed mixed feelings about these advancements.
Separately, Google is expanding its digital information storage capabilities. Following the addition of digital driver’s licenses to its Wallet platform, the company plans to allow US users to store their passports digitally. The digital version will be accepted at specific TSA checkpoints, though Google recommends retaining the physical passport for broader usage.
In browser-related news, Google announced enhancements to its Chrome tab grouping feature, which will soon sync across platforms. This means that browser tabs organized into groups on a desktop can be accessed seamlessly on mobile devices. The feature will also become available on iOS and will sync across desktop environments. The exact rollout date was not specified.
Lastly, Meta announced it would be training its AI models using data from Facebook and Instagram users in the UK. This initiative aims to make Meta’s AI tools more reflective of British culture and speech.
These developments highlight the ongoing integration of AI into various consumer technologies and platforms, signaling continued growth and innovation in the field.
