Apple Books Quietly Launches AI-Narrated Audiobooks

Audiobooks narrated by a text-to-speech AI are now available via Apple's Books service, in a move with potentially huge implications for the multi-billion dollar audiobook industry. From a report: Apple describes the new "digital narration" feature on its website as making "the creation of audiobooks more accessible to all," by reducing "the cost and complexity" of producing them for authors and publishers. The feature represents a big shift from the current audiobook model, which often involves authors narrating their own books in a process that can take weeks and cost thousands for a publisher. Digital narration has the potential to allow smaller publishers and authors to put out an audiobook at a much lower cost. Apple's website says the feature is initially only available for romance and fiction books, where it lists two available digital voices: Madison and Jackson. (Two more voices, Helena and Mitchell, are on the way for nonfiction books). The service is only available in English at present, and Apple is oddly specific about the genres of books its digital narrators are able to tackle. "Primary category must be romance or fiction (literary, historical, and women's fiction are eligible; mysteries and thrillers, and science fiction and fantasy are not currently supported)," its website reads.

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