Amazon will begin inviting a small group of Audible narrators to train AI-generated voice clones of themselves this week, with the aim of speeding up audiobook production for the platform. The US-only beta test was announced on Audible’s creator marketplace and will be extended to rights holders like authors, agents, and publishers “later this year,” according to Amazon.
“There is a vast catalog of books that does not yet exist in audio and as we explore ways to bring more books to life on Audible, we’re committed to thoughtfully balancing the interests of authors, narrators, publishers, and listeners,” Amazon said in its announcement. Participants in the beta will submit a voice recording to train their AI replica and will retain control over the projects they wish to audition for across both live performances and AI-generated recordings.
Narrators can also use Amazon’s production tools to edit the pronunciation and pacing of their AI voice replica if a rights holder selects them for a project, alongside reviewing the final production for any errors or inaccuracies. Amazon says that narrators will be compensated via a “Royalty Share” model on a “title-by-title basis” but didn’t expand on how much voice artists can expect to earn.
The announcement blog says that beta participants can create a voice replica “for free,” which implies that there may be an upfront cost involved for narrators in the future if the feature becomes generally available. Any titles that are narrated using voice replicas will be labeled on the product detail page. “Narrators control what works are narrated with their voice replica,” Amazon said. “Audible will not separately use a narrator’s voice replica for any content without their approval.”
Amazon rolled out a similar feature last year that allows Kindle Direct Publishing authors to convert their titles into audiobooks using fully synthetic voices. Bloomberg reported in May that virtual voices were used on 40,000 Audible titles since release, sparking concerns from narrators like Ramon de Ocampo about the feature reducing job opportunities for human performers. As outlets like Brian’s Book Blog have noted, Audible currently doesn’t provide an easy way for users to filter out these “Virtual Voice” audiobooks if they’re aiming to avoid them.
