Audible Expands AI-Narrated Audiobook Library, Sparking Industry Debate

Audible is expanding its AI-narrated audiobook library | TechCrunch

Audible, Amazon's audiobook service, announced on Tuesday that it's partnering with select publishers to convert print and e-books into AI-narrated audiobooks. This initiative aims to quickly expand its catalog as it competes with Apple, Spotify, and others in the rapidly growing audiobook market. Audible is leveraging Amazon's AI capabilities to assist publishers in producing audiobooks. Publishers can choose from over 100 AI-generated voices available in English, French, Spanish, and Italian, with multiple accents and dialect options. The company plans to expand these options over time. Additionally, Audible plans to roll out a beta version of AI translation later this year, offering both text-to-text and speech-to-speech translation services. This will support translations from English to Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Publishers will also have the option to get help from "professional linguists" to review these translations for accuracy, according to the company. In 2023, Amazon introduced an invite-only beta virtual voice tool for self-published authors in the U.S., enabling them to convert their e-books into audiobooks using synthetic speech tech. Last year, Audible invited a cohort of audiobook narrators to train AI on their voices. A search for "virtual voice" on Audible reveals over 50,000 titles labeled "Narrated By: Virtual Voice," indicating that the tech is popular among authors who may not have the resources to produce their own audiobooks. Despite its widespread adoption, the introduction of AI-generated narrations has prompted debate within the publishing community and among listeners. Critics express concerns that these AI recordings might compromise the overall quality of audiobooks. Spotify, the second-largest audiobook provider after Audible, has also recently made efforts to expand its audiobook library by utilizing AI narration tools. The platform partnered with the AI audio provider ElevenLabs in February.

Your Next Audible Audiobook Could Be Voiced by AI

Tiffany Wendeln Connors is a senior editor for CNET Money with a focus on credit cards. Previously, she covered personal finance topics as a writer and editor at The Penny Hoarder. She is passionate about helping people make the best money decisions for themselves and their families. She graduated from Bowling Green State University with a bachelor's degree in journalism and has been a writer and editor for publications including the New York Post, Women's Running magazine and Soap Opera Digest. When she isn't working, you can find her enjoying life in St. Petersburg, Florida, with her husband, daughter and a very needy dog. Audible will now offer publishers the option to let AI narrate their books. Amazon's audiobook service announced the expanded production capabilities today, noting that publishers will have the choice of more than 100 AI-generated voices across English, Spanish, French and Italian. "Audible believes that AI represents a momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language," Audible CEO Bob Carrigan said in the press release. The company said that the service will tap Amazon's advanced AI capabilities to produce the audiobooks, and that publishers will be able to choose between letting Audible handle the entire audiobook production process, or using the self-service production option. Audible also said it will roll out a Beta version of its AI translation service for its global audience later this year.

Audible is giving publishers AI tools to quickly make more audiobooks

Andrew Liszewski is a senior reporter who's been covering and reviewing the latest gadgets and tech since 2006, but has loved all things electronic since he was a kid. Amazon's Audible has announced that it's planning to expand its audiobook catalog by giving select publishers access to its new "fully integrated, end-to-end AI production technology" that will let them more easily convert titles to audiobooks with their choice of AI-generated voices. The initiative will also help expand global access to audiobooks with the introduction of a new AI translation tool that's expected to launch in an early beta later this year.

The next audiobook you listen to might be narrated by AI

Summary Audible's new AI-narrated titles offer publishers a quick, cheap way to convert print books into audio. There are already more than 50,000 AI-narrated audiobooks on Audible. Audible plans to expand with AI translation and launch a beta version for text-to-text and speech-to-speech translation. Why pay expensive voice actors to narrate a book when you can create one out of thin air? That's the thinking behind Audible's latest move to help publishers convert print books into audio formats quickly and cheaply. Related How to sign up for an Audible trial and get free audiobooks Try out one of the biggest audiobook libraries in the world Posts Audible's catalog of audiobooks is getting a major expansion thanks to new AI-narrated titles (via TechCrunch). The Amazon-owned company announced on Tuesday it is partnering with select publishers to offer synthetic narration using Amazon's in-house AI technology. Publishers will be able to choose from over 100 AI-generated voices in five languages. AI translation and expanded features on the way Audible also plans to launch a beta version of AI-powered translation later this year. This will support text-to-text and speech-to-speech translation between English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German. The company says publishers will be able to have these translations reviewed by a human linguist to ensure accuracy. Audible introduced a similar beta program back in 2023 for self-published authors in the US. The program enabled authors to use virtual voices to convert e-books into audiobooks. The company also enlisted human narrators to help train synthetic voices last year. Audiobooks are the fastest-growing format in publishing, according to Amazon. Many people prefer to listen to a book than to read, so it makes sense. But the process for converting a book into an audiobook has traditionally been laborious. Publishers need high-quality sound recording equipment, voice actors, and audio editors, at the very least. AI narration looks ready to upset the entire industry. AI narration is already gaining traction There are tens of thousands of titles labeled as 'virtual voice' on Audible. TechCrunch found more than 50,000 titles with AI narration. The feature is clearly being widely used by authors and publishers. But the audiobook community is not always happy about this. Critics aregue the synthetic voices lack the nuance and emotion of human narrators, and this impacts the listener experience. Others feel this is just another step towards the complete takeover of the arts by AI. Spotify also recently partnered with ElevenLabs to create AI-narrated audiobooks . Whichever way you feel about it, the future is clear: AI is here to stay.

Audible unveils plans to use AI voices to narrate audiobooks

Amazon brand will offer more than 100 artificial intelligence-generated voices in English and other languages Audible has announced plans to use AI technology to narrate audiobooks, with AI translation to follow. The Amazon-owned audiobook provider has said it will be making its AI production technology available to certain publishers via "select partnerships". "We are bringing new audiobooks to life through our own fully integrated, end-to-end AI production technology," reads the announcement on Audible's website. There are two options for publishers wishing to make use of the technology: "Audible-managed" production or "self-service", whereby publishers produce their own audiobooks with the help of Audible's AI technology. Both options will allow publishers to choose from more than 100 AI-generated voices across English, Spanish, French and Italian to narrate their books. AI translation of audiobooks is expected to be available later in the year. "Audible believes that AI represents a momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language, alongside our continued investments in premium original content," said Bob Carrigan, the chief executive of Audible. "We'll be able to bring more stories to life - helping creators reach new audiences while ensuring listeners worldwide can access extraordinary books that might otherwise never reach their ears." However, Audible's announcement has been met with criticism from writers, translators and voice actors. "This short-sighted scheme reduces what we love about storytelling to the simple delivery of code," said Chocolat author Joanne Harris. "In an age of declining literacy, I can't think of anything more likely to put people off listening to audiobooks altogether." Kristin Atherton, who has narrated more than 400 audiobook titles on Audible, thinks human narrators "actively sell audio content by being good at their jobs". "The art - and it is an art - of a good audiobook is the crack in the voice at a moment of unexpected emotion, the wryness of good comedy timing, or the disbelief a listener feels when one person can convincingly be a whole cast of characters," she said. "No matter how 'human' an AI voice sounds, it's those little intricacies that turn a good book into an excellent one. AI can't replicate that." Stephen Briggs, who voiced some of the audiobooks of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, said: "The use of AI to replace human creativity is in itself a dangerous path," while actor and audiobook narrator Deepti Gupta said: "We need to create more, not less, space for Bipoc narrators and these AI tools are a new way to marginalise and colonise the voices that need to be heard." Nichola Smalley, who translates Swedish and Norwegian literature into English, said though the idea that Audible's new services will enable more books to reach wider audiences is "alluring", her experience with new developments such as this "is that they produce a glut of mediocre results that no one really wholeheartedly enjoys". "Time after time, generative AI has been shown to produce lowest-common-denominator results, while human translators, while fallible, use their personalities and the serendipity of the human mind to produce unique solutions to linguistic and literary problems, thereby creating art," she added. Prominent literary translator, Frank Wynne, known for his work translating French and Spanish books into English, said: "No one pretends to use AI, for translation, audiobooks, or even writing books because they are better, the only excuse is that they are cheaper. Which is only true if you ignore the vast processing power even the simplest AI request requires." "In the search for a cheap simulacra to an actual human, we are prepared to burn down the planet and call it progress," he added. Meanwhile, Anna Ganley, chief executive of the UK's largest writers' body, the Society of Authors, said though this innovation "will expand the availability of audiobooks and help writers of all profiles reach new audiences", the opportunities offered "must be transparent both to authors and consumers. Audible's AI tool, and others like it, must not be used as a back door to teach and refine existing AI tools. Authors must be included in the process and not get shut out by tech companies and publishers. They must also be able to choose whether their work is narrated by a human or synthetic voice, and this must be clearly labelled to consumers." Since last year, Audible has allowed self-publishing authors in the US to use its "virtual voice" technology turn their ebooks into audiobooks. More than 60,000 of these computer-generated audiobooks currently exist. Founded in 1995, Audible is the longstanding global market leader for audiobooks. Its first comparable competitor arrived in 2023 when Spotify started offering audiobooks to its premium subscribers. Membership, which costs £7.99 a month in the UK, is reportedly at an all-time high.

Audible's AI narration sounds impressive, but I'd rather hear the story told by a human

Audiobooks have saved my sanity on many long commutes and have been great company while I'm cleaning or doing other chores. When the performance is good, it's easy to fall into the story. Audible wants authors and their readers to embrace AI as an alternative to human narration, but I am skeptical. Audible is offering publishers access to a fully integrated AI production pipeline. That includes auto-generating entire audiobooks with synthetic voices. Their pitch is appealing on the surface: there are millions of books out there, and only a sliver of them ever make it into audio. Making audiobooks is expensive, time-consuming, and involves real people who need to be paid fairly for their time. An AI narrator is faster, cheaper, and a lot of people might not even notice it's not a human performing. But "good enough" shouldn't be the standard for art, and audiobooks are very much an art form. Great narration adds depth, color, rhythm, and even new meaning to a text. It transforms reading aloud from words on a page you can hear to a real performance. Even if AI gets close in a technical sense, and I've heard AI audio that matches a human performance for at least a few minutes, we'll still know the difference. Human narration has nuance because it has context. The narrator understands not just the definition of the words they're saying, but the emotion and history behind them. They know the difference between a sigh of relief and a sigh of resignation. AI can approximate those sounds, sometimes amazingly so, but it's like a pet trick. A dog can cover its eyes, but that's not actually the dog feeling embarrassed. The more AI voices fill our earbuds, the more we risk turning one of the most intimate forms of storytelling into something that feels robotic, flat, and eerily lifeless. It's like auto-tuning a lullaby. It might hit the right notes, but it doesn't sing. All of that said, I'm not against using AI for audiobooks in the right setting. Like any technology, it's about how AI narration is deployed, not whether it exists. There are so many books and new ones emerging all the time. If you're an independent author with no budget to hire a narrator, or a publisher with a shelf of titles no one has touched in a decade, AI narration could breathe life into your books. Synthetic voices don't replace anything in those contexts; they just provide access. And an AI voice could supplement human readers with a multi-voice performance if you use the self-service version of Audible's AI narration platform. Using AI to supplement rather than replace all human voices feels like a better option to me. One area I'm all in on for AI voices is translating texts. Audible has a beta test for AI-powered translation tools that could bring books to people unable to understand them in their original language. If there's anything worse than a great book not having an audiobook, it's a great book not being accessible in your language. Audible is starting the program by offering to translate English books into Spanish, French, German, and Italian. The translation service can simply translate text and then give the new work an AI narrator, but what is more interesting to me is the speech-to-speech mode. That means an audiobook performed by a human in English could be replicated in a different language while sounding like the original performer. The narrator of a bestselling English audiobook could now "speak" fluent Spanish in their own voice, introducing that story to new listeners around the world. That's my favorite way to think about how to use AI. It can expand the reach of art without diluting its heart. It's not quite the same as original, human narration, but it's a solution to a problem. That's how Audible should pitch AI audiobooks. We should absolutely use AI narration to make books accessible. But if it's possible to give it a human touch, that should be the first thought. It's important not to lose sight of how this AI audiobook shift affects the performers who often build careers lending their voices to other people's stories. If AI starts gobbling up midlist titles, budget-conscious publishers might see no reason to hire real readers anymore. AI doesn't have to be the enemy. But it shouldn't be the default.

Even Audiobooks Aren't Safe From AI Slop

Audible, one of the world's largest audiobook platforms, is opening the floodgates to AI slop. On Tuesday, the Amazon-owned service announced its new "integrated AI narration technology" that'll allow selected publishers to rapidly churn out audiobooks using a wide range of AI-generated voices. It's Audible's biggest foray into AI yet, and will be a major blow for voice actors, who are fighting tooth and nail to win protections against the technology, particularly in the US video games industry, where they are still on strike. "The use of AI to replace human creativity is in itself a dangerous path," Stephen Briggs, a voice over artist known for narrating the works of Terry Pratchett, told The Guardian. In the announcement, Audible boasted that book publishers can choose from more than 100 AI-generated voices in English, Spanish, French, and Italian, with multiple accents and dialect options. And as an added incentive, it's offering better royalty rates to authors who use Audible's AI to create an audiobook exclusively for the platform, Bloomberg reported. Audible also plans to roll out a beta version of an AI translation feature later in 2025, offering to either have a human narrator read a translated manuscript or use AI to translate an existing audiobook narrator's performance into another language. Audible says it's working on support for translations from English to Spanish, French, Italian, and German, and publishers, should they choose to, can review the translations through a professional linguist hired by Audible. "Audible believes that AI represents a momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language, alongside our continued investments in premium original content," CEO Bob Carrigan said in a statement, "ensuring listeners worldwide can access extraordinary books that might otherwise never reach their ears." It's a shocking announcement, but the writing has been on the wall for a while now. Last September, Amazon started a trial program allowing audiobook narrators to generate AI clones of their voice. And in 2023, Amazon launched an AI-generated "virtual voice" feature that could transform self-published author's titles into audiobooks. Today, more than 60,000 of these titles are narrated with Audible's virtual voice, according to Bloomberg. Audible argues that by using AI, it's expanding its audience and breaking down language barriers. But audiobook narrators, authors, and translators aren't buying that the company has wholly good intentions. As always, it'll be human creatives that'll be getting the short end of the stick -- all in service of creating an inferior product. "No one pretends to use AI for translation, audiobooks, or even writing books because they are better; the only excuse is that they are cheaper," Frank Wynne, a renowned translator of French and Spanish literature into English, told The Guardian. "Which is only true if you ignore the vast processing power even the simplest AI request requires. In the search for a cheap simulacra to an actual human, we are prepared to burn down the planet and call it progress." "The art -- and it is an art -- of a good audiobook is the crack in the voice at a moment of unexpected emotion, the wryness of good comedy timing, or the disbelief a listener feels when one person can convincingly be a whole cast of characters," Kristein Atherton, who's narrated over four hundred audiobooks on Audible, told the newspaper. "No matter how 'human' an AI voice sounds, it's those little intricacies that turn a good book into an excellent one. AI can't replicate that."

Audible to Add AI-Generated Audiobooks | AIM

The Amazon-owned company is leveraging AI to convert more books to audio format. On Tuesday, Audible announced a major push to expand the availability of audiobooks using its new end-to-end AI production. Through select publisher partnerships, the Amazon-owned company will now offer AI-generated narration and, starting later this year, AI-powered translation, all to bring more stories to listeners in more languages. "Audible believes that AI represents a momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language, alongside our continued investments in premium original content," stated Bob Carrigan, CEO of Audible, in the announcement. The initiative combines Audible's decades of audio production experience with Amazon's advanced AI tools, allowing publishers to turn written manuscripts into fully produced audiobooks faster and at scale. The new service offers two production paths. Publishers can either opt for Audible to manage the entire process, from ingesting the text to publishing the final audiobook, or they can use the same underlying technology to produce audiobooks independently. More than 100 AI-generated voices are available at launch, covering English, Spanish, French, and Italian, with multiple accents and dialects. Audible said voice quality will continue to improve over time, and titles can be upgraded as the technology evolves. A beta translation feature is also set to roll out later this year, beginning with English translations into Spanish, French, Italian, and German. Publishers can choose between text-to-text or speech-to-speech translation, the latter designed to preserve the narrator's original voice and style. Both options allow for human review to ensure linguistic and cultural accuracy, and a built-in text editor will enable publishers to make further refinements. Audible said it will continue working closely with authors, narrators, and publishers to ensure these tools align with creative and quality standards. As the technology matures, the company plans to add more languages and support a wider range of voices to serve a broader global audience.

Even Audiobooks Aren't Safe From AI Now

My 8 Foolproof Methods to Check If a Social Media Post Is AI or Not Audible now offers audiobooks narrated by AI-generated voices, helping publishers turn more books into audio. Is this an opportunity for those with limited budgets, more choices for the listeners, or a death knell for human narrators? AI Voices Are Expanding the Audiobook Library Audible announced it's working with select publishers to produce audiobooks using AI narration. The idea is simple: many books never make it into audio because hiring a human narrator is expensive and time-consuming. By using AI-generated voices, publishers can release more titles faster and cheaper. There are over 100 AI voices to choose from. To begin with, English, French, Spanish, and Italian are the languages of choice. Under the hood, the virtual voices will tap into Amazon's advanced AI capabilities. Publishers can choose between two pathways. The first is Audible-managed, end-to-end production, where the company handles every step. The second is Self-service production, where publishers control the production process. Later this year, Audible also plans to launch a beta for AI-powered translation. It will convert English-language books into Spanish, French, Italian, or German. Publishers can also work with human translators to fine-tune the output. Audible's CEO Bob Carrigan says audiobooks cover only a tiny fraction of all published books. That number could grow with AI, especially for niche or indie titles that would otherwise never get an audio version: We'll be able to bring more stories to life -- helping creators reach new audiences while ensuring listeners worldwide can access extraordinary books that might otherwise never reach their ears. Why This Matters for You as a Listener For most listeners, this change means more books to choose from. If there's a book you've wanted to hear but couldn't find in audio, it might now show up on Audible with a virtual narrator. And if you listen in another language, the translation tools could open up many more options. Hopefully, this won't replace professional narrators for big releases. There's nothing quite like Bryan Cranston narrating The Things They Carried or Morgan Freeman's voice in Ishmael. Bestsellers and popular memoirs should still get the full studio treatment. But for smaller books or ones where publishers can't justify the cost, AI could fill the gap. Will AI voices be as expressive or emotional as human readers? Probably not -- at least not yet. But for some books, such as nonfiction, how-tos, or business titles, this might not matter as much. AI-generated podcasts are already here, and they are dividing opinions. Audiobooks could have the same effect. I'm already talking to chatbots like ChatGPT when I need to absorb information while walking. They're not perfect, but they're getting better. And if it means I can listen to more books I care about only in passing, I'm open to it. For more serious titles, I will always prefer the timbre of a human voice. Only time will tell if AI audiobooks flood the market and it becomes the rule rather than the exception. Let's hope Audible implements a cataloging system where we can tell AI and human-narrated audiobooks apart. Till then, keep an eye on the "Narrated by" mention under each Audible audiobook.

Why Audible is Silencing Humans -- and Giving AI a Listen

At first blush that sounds pretty clever, and in line with the digital evolution of the traditional book from paper to e-book format. Dig a little deeper and this AI boost also directly threatens several third-party industries that support audiobook production, from human translators to voice actors and sound engineers. Audible CEO Bob Carrigan said his company believes AI gives a "momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language," and that it'll allow Audible to "bring more stories to life" by "helping creators reach new audiences while ensuring listeners worldwide can access extraordinary books that might otherwise never reach their ears," industry news site TheBookseller reported. That's a very positive spin on this implementation of AI tech. It's true -- some publishers may, for cost reasons or a predicted small market for a particular title, choose to not produce an audiobook version -- and an AI solution may result in these titles being converted to audio format.

Audible to Partner With Publishers to Create AI-Voiced Audiobooks

Titles can be either created exclusively for Audible or distribution Amazon.com's Audible is working with US-based book publishers to convert print and e-books into artificial intelligence-voiced audiobooks, helping to expand its catalog particularly in non-English speaking markets. "Every book deserves to be heard in audio," Bob Carrigan, chief executive officer of Audible, said in an interview. Audiobooks are the fastest-growing format in publishing, according to Audible, but only two percent to five percent of existing print and e-books exist in audio form, he said. "Our goal is to close that gap." Publishers can select from more than 100 AI-generated voices across English, Spanish, French and Italian, including numerous accent and dialect options. Titles can be either created exclusively for Audible, with a more favorable royalty rate, or for distribution outside its platform. Soon, Audible will also offer a translation feature that can convert text and audio into multiple languages in addition to the original. "The opportunity to use AI to bring more storytelling to more people in more languages is a really exciting one," Carrigan said. Audible membership, which costs $14.95 (roughly Rs. 1,275) a month for audiobooks and podcasts, is at an all-time high, Carrigan said late last year. It's launched in some new territories recently, including Brazil, and has been experimenting with new subscription tiers and royalty models to keep its edge against Spotify Technology SA, which recently incorporated audiobook listening in its music-streaming and podcasting app. The company generally doesn't allow publishers to upload AI-voiced audiobooks that were made using third-party tools, suggesting they'll have to work with Audible's technology to tap into its significant audience. Audible has been letting self-published authors in the US employ these virtual voices to turn their e-books into audiobooks. More than 60,000 such titles are marked as narrated by these voices on Audible, up from 40,000 around this time last year. © 2025 Bloomberg LP