“AI books have infected the ACX listings for auditions. they are everywhere.”
That sentiment is typical. But there is a persistent championing spirit about human-voiced books. In addition to a predictable advocacy for professional narration, there is an assumed user preference for natural human voices:
“People largely listen to audiobooks for entertainment, and the folks filling their Audible checkout with Fantasy Romance don’t want to hear rote narration. They simply won’t buy it!”
“I’ve been doing audiobook narration for over a decade now, and still do it as my full time career as a union actor, alongside other VO work […] Consumers drive everything and they’ve mostly said no to AI narration.”
“Millionaire actors invading the space”
While the main issue is AI actors winning auditions or being used directly by authors — bypassing the ACX audition process — AI is also reportedly entering the back end of the business as well. AI companies are enticing voice narration actors to contribute their voices to AI training programs.
“The low hanging fruit of voice acting work, that newcomers used to cut their teeth on, is pretty much all dried up and gone to AI for pennies on the dollar.”
“Catastrophic. It’s steadily eroded my income over the past three years by up to 75%. Used to have multiple gigs weekly -including lots of bread & butter gigs like training videos which have all but dried up.”
One respondent noted “millionnaire actors [are] invading the space.”
On the bright side…
AI makes artist-friendly contributions to audiobook narration in the form of production software. We saw raves for audio repair app iZotope, which enables beginners to make what one professional called “decent recordings.” Another AI assistant called Pozotron is recommended by some for its AI proofreading capability. Those programs affect production quality, which might indirectly lead to more attainment of audiobook narration contracts.
See the conversation HERE.
