Latest news with #narration
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘AI doesn't know what an orgasm sounds like': audiobook actors grapple with the rise of robot narrators
When we think about what makes an audiobook memorable, it's always the most human moments: a catch in the throat when tears are near, or words spoken through a real smile. A Melbourne actor and audiobook narrator, Annabelle Tudor, says it's the instinct we have as storytellers that makes narration such a primal, and precious, skill. 'The voice betrays how we're feeling really easily,' she says. But as an art form it may be under threat. In May the Amazon-owned audiobook provider Audible announced it would allow authors and publishers to choose from more than 100 voices created by artificial intelligence to narrate audiobooks in English, Spanish, French and Italian, with AI translation of audiobooks expected to be available later in the year – news that was met with criticism and curiosity across the publishing industry. In Australia, where there are fewer audiobook companies and where emerging actors like Tudor rely on the work to supplement their incomes, there is growing concern about job losses, transparency and quality. While Tudor, who has narrated 48 books, isn't convinced that AI can do what she does just yet, she is worried that the poor quality may turn people away from the medium. 'I've narrated really raunchy sex scenes – AI doesn't know what an orgasm sounds like,' she says. 'Birth scenes as well – I'd love to know how they plan on getting around that.' According to a 2024 report by NielsenIQ Bookdata, more than half of Australian audiobook consumers increased their listening over the past five years. Internationally there was a 13% increase in US audiobook sales between 2023 and 2024; in the UK audiobook revenue shot up to a new high of £268m, a 31% increase on 2023, the Publishers Association said. As demand for audio content grows, companies are looking for faster – and cheaper – ways to make it. In January 2023 Apple launched a new audiobook catalogue of audiobooks narrated by AI. Later that year Amazon announced that self-published, US-based authors with works on Kindle could turn their ebooks into audiobooks using AI 'virtual voice' technology – and there are now tens of thousands of these computer-generated audiobooks available through Audible. And in February this year, as part of a more general shift towards audiobooks, Spotify said it would be accepting AI audiobooks to 'lower the barrier to entry' for authors hoping to find more readers. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Audible says its aims are similar: to complement, not replace, human narration, allowing more authors and more titles to reach bigger audiences. In the US Audible is also testing a voice replica for audiobook narrators, to create dupes of their own voices that will 'empower participants to expand their production capabilities for high-quality audiobooks'. 'In 2023 and 2024, Audible Studios hired more [human] narrators than ever before,' an Audible spokesperson told the Guardian. 'We continue to hear from creators who want to make their work available in audio, reaching new audiences across languages.' But robot narrators will always be cheaper than humans – and people in the voice acting and book industries fear a move to AI could pose a threat to workers. Dorje Swallow's career as a narrator took off after he began voicing novels by the Australian bestselling crime author Chris Hammer – and the actor has now narrated about 70 audiobooks. Swallow believes AI narration is a tool created by people who 'don't understand the value, technique and skills' required to produce quality audiobooks. 'We've done the hard yards and then some to get where we are, and to think you can just press a button and you're going to get something of similar, or good enough quality, is kind of laughable,' he says. Simon Kennedy, the president of the Australian Association of Voice Actors, says there has always been a battle over how much a narrator deserves to be paid in Australia. For every finished hour of an audiobook, a narrator might spend double or triple that time recording it – and that doesn't include an initial read to understand the book and its characters. Sign up to Bookmarks Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you after newsletter promotion 'My personal opinion is that [introducing AI narrators] is going for volume over quality – and it's looking to cheapen the process,' he says. Kennedy founded the Australian Association of Voice Actors in 2024 in response to the threat being posed by AI. In a submission to a parliamentary committee last year the organisation said 5,000 Australian voice acting jobs were at risk. He was hardly surprised about Audible's announcement but says he thinks it's a 'pretty dumb move'. 'An audiobook narrator has such a special and intimate relationship with the listener that to try and do anything that is less connective is a foolish move,' he says. As for the opportunity to clone their own voices, he says voice actors should have the right to engage – but they shouldn't expect 'any near the same pay rate, and they risk turning their unique timbre – their vocal brand – into a mass-produced robot voice that listeners get sick of listening to pretty quickly.'. 'If an emotionless narration at a consistent volume is all you need for 'high-quality', then sure,' he says. 'But if engaging, gripping, edge-of-your-seat storytelling is your version of high-quality, then don't hold your breath for AI to give you that.' Another major concern is Australia's lack of AI regulation. While the EU has its own AI Act, and China and Spain have labelling laws for AI-generated content, Australia is falling behind. 'There are no laws to prevent data scraping or non-consenting cloning of voices, or of creating deepfakes of people,' Kennedy says. 'There are also no labelling laws or laws to mandate watermarking of AI-generated content and its origins; no laws to mandate transparency of training data; and no laws to dictate the appropriate use of AI-generated deepfakes, voice clones or text.' This year the Burial Rites and Devotion author, Hannah Kent, was one of many acclaimed Australian writers shocked to discover their pirated work had been used to train Meta's AI systems. She says while her initial reaction to the introduction of AI into creative spaces tends to be 'refusal and outrage', she's curious about Audible's AI announcement – specifically its plans to roll out beta testing for AI to translate text into different languages. 'I think it's fairly obvious that the main reason to use AI would be for costs, and I think that's going to cheapen things in a literal sense and cheapen things in a creative sense – in that sense of us honouring the storytelling, artistic and creative impulse,' Kent says. Tudor and Swallow believe big companies will struggle to replace human narration completely, partly because many Australian authors will oppose it. But whether or not listeners will be able to tell the difference remains to be seen. 'The foot is on the pedal to drive straight into dystopia,' Tudor says. 'Can we just listen to people instead of robots?'
CNN
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Courtney B. Vance on book bans, protests in Los Angeles, and narrating the audiobook of the biography of W.E.B. Du Bois
Laura sits down with award-winning actor Courtney B. Vance to talk about his latest role narrating the new audiobook of "W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race". Vance also discusses the rise of book bans and the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles.
CNN
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Courtney B. Vance on book bans, protests in Los Angeles, and narrating the audiobook of the biography of W.E.B. Du Bois
Laura sits down with award-winning actor Courtney B. Vance to talk about his latest role narrating the new audiobook of "W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race". Vance also discusses the rise of book bans and the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles.
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Blake Lively wants to make her kids 'proud' as she promotes Ryan Reynolds' new project amid Justin Baldoni drama
Blake Lively discussed wanting to make her kids proud while promoting her husband Ryan Reynolds ' latest project. The actress, 37, shared a clip from the upcoming National Geographic show 'Underdogs' — narrated and executive produced by Reynolds, 48 — to her Instagram on Tuesday. It comes after Lively — who's embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit with her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni — recently narrated Nat Geo's 'Secrets of the Penguins', a three-part docuseries which premiered on April 20. 'Narrating Secrets of The Penguins for @natgeo was a highlight of my year,' she wrote on her social media. 'The older we get, the more we work to make our kids proud. Which is exactly why @vancityreynolds is carrying the "shows you can watch as a family" torch with @underdogsnatgeo.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. Lively and Reynolds, who've been married since 2012, are parents to daughters James, 10, Inez, eight, and Betty, five, and son Olin, two; She is seen with her daughters in 2021 Lively and Reynolds, who've been married since 2012, are parents to daughters James, 10, Inez, eight, and Betty, five, and son Olin, two. Lively also gushed about producer Sophia Travaglia. 'I couldn't be more proud of producer @sophiatravaglia for making this little idea that could a reality. From ideation, to camping out in the bush with these sweet creatures, to narration sessions, to marketing... to today. The dream producer. The dream team.' Underdogs is set to premiere Sunday, June 15 on National Geographic TV. The five-episode series follows animals on the very base level of the food chain. Elsewhere on her Instagram Blake also joked about her kids not being able to watch her movies. The star shared a clip from an interview with her fellow Another Simple Favor co-stars, Michele Morrone, Anna Kendrick, Henry Golding, Alex Newell, and Andrew Rannells. In the clip the cast are asked to name a scene that 'looks easy but was challenging to shoot.' Henry jokingly named a scene of him masturbating in the shower. It comes after Lively recently narrated Nat Geo's 'Secrets of the Penguins'. She joked that she had to do the project because her kids are not able to watch her other movies Over the clip Blake wrote, 'Also, I had to make Secrets of the Penguins. Because it's not like my kids can watch my other movies.' Blake and Ryan have been busy with a number of projects, in spite of the ongoing legal drama with Baldoni, whom she sued for sexual harassment in December. Last week Lively launched a trio of hair and body scents from her beauty line Blake Brown, and claimed that Ryan 'legitimately uses [the products].' 'I thought he was just being the best and most supportive husband, but he genuinely loves to wear them,' she said. It comes amid Lively's fallout with the godmother to her eldest children, pop superstar Taylor Swift, 35. The singer 'is done' with the actress, a source recently told and their mutual pal Gigi Hadid, 30, is also reportedly cutting ties with Blake. It comes following reports that Lively allegedly threatened to leak embarrassing private texts from Swift unless the pop star agreed to publicly back Lively in her legal feud with Baldoni, 41. Last week, Swift was dramatically subpoenaed in the case, despite attempts to distance herself from the furor. 'There is no recovering from this. Their friendship is done,' the insider said. After Lively filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and director in December, Justin retaliated with his own $400 million filing against her and her husband; Seen on set with Baldoni in 2024 This comes as her lawsuit with Baldoni heads towards its six month anniversary. She first filed on December 31, 2024. It began after she filed a lawsuit against him accusing him of sexual harassment and creating a 'hostile work environment on set.' Justin retaliated with his own $400 million filing against the actress, along with her husband, with the brutal melee now scheduled for a trial on March 29, 2026. All parties have denied the claims.
Times
19-05-2025
- Science
- Times
Audiobook read by AI is the opposite of soothing
When I can't get to sleep I do something strange. I put on an audiobook. A specific one: The Unknown Universe by Stuart Clark. I must have listened to it more than 70 times but I still can't entirely explain the appeal. It's not the most dazzling book on science. And it's not the most famous. It's possible that there's something about trying to understand challenging concepts such as dark energy that is soporific. Or maybe there's something reassuring about the perspective it provides. Why worry about tomorrow's presentation when the entire universe might one day go out like a light? However, one thing I do know is that the soothing human narrator, David Timson, is important. And I know this because I tried a
