Apple’s digital book store is the first to offer audio books that are read by computer-generated voices. The books are marked as such with the addition “Narrated by Apple Books”. Nevertheless, there is initial criticism from cultural workers and competitors.
Apple had already announced the move to have AI voices set to music for mid-November. The British Guardian reportsthat the plans were then postponed. In the background, the US company specifically asked authors and small publishers in the USA and Canada to have their books set to music accordingly. Especially for small publishers and authors who publish themselves, the high costs for a soundtrack can hardly be shouldered. With the AI voices, Apple can significantly increase its range of audio books.
Annual growth in the double-digit percentage range
The market for audio books is considered to be particularly lucrative. Sales increased 25 percent last year to a total of $33.5 billion, the Guardian reports. Apple speaks too on a website specially set up for authors of the fact that for the tenth time in a row double-digit percentage increases were recorded year-on-year. And there is no end in sight. Authors are therefore advised to consider an audio book.
Apple itself describes the AI voices as a digital narrative. To this end, Apple has worked with linguists, sound engineers and other experts. Apparently the production process also includes a human level of quality control, as the books are not simply converted and then immediately uploaded. Apple speaks of one to two months processing time. To select are four narrator voicestuned to specific genres: Madison and Jackson for fiction, and Helena and Mitchell for nonfiction.
At the moment, only English-language titles are eligible. Various genres are also currently not available. The voices sound much more human than those of digital language assistants like Siri, but can still be distinguished from human voices.
Criticism of Apple’s AI audio books
Apple’s move is not without controversy. The Guardian cites creators who see human narration as an important artistic part of an audio book. They are skeptical about the use of an AI. In the case of competitors like Spotify, however, Apple’s move is likely to reinforce the existing sense of injustice. Spotify is already protesting against Apple’s restrictions on the sale of audio books. The fact that Apple reserves the AI-generated audio books exclusively for its own bookstore is likely to further intensify the dispute and probably make the antitrust authorities take a closer look.
(mki)
