Audible, Amazon’s audiobook service, is partnering with select publishers to convert print and e-books into AI-narrated audiobooks to expand its catalog in the competitive audiobook market.
Audible is utilizing Amazon's AI capabilities to provide over 100 AI-generated voices in multiple languages and dialect options for publishers, with plans to introduce more voice options in the future.
Audible is set to introduce a beta version of AI translation later this year, offering text-to-text and speech-to-speech translation services for languages including English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German.
The initiative has sparked debate within the publishing community and among listeners over concerns about the impact of AI narrations on the quality of audiobooks. Spotify, the second-largest audiobook provider, has also ventured into expanding its library using AI narration tools.