Tech giant Apple has secretly launched a catalogue of books narrated by artificial intelligence. The feature represents a major shift in audiobook publishing, which involves authors narrating their own books, a process that can take weeks and cost a publisher thousands of dollars.
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The company said, “We’re starting with fiction and romance, and are accepting ebook submissions in these genres. 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).”
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According to Apple’s website, the feature is currently only available for romance and fiction books, with two available digital voices - Madison and Jackson, and two more voices - Helena and Mitchell - on the way for non-fiction books.
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If users search for “AI narration” in the Books app, they will find a series of romance novels with a small notice saying they’re “Narrated by Apple Books”. At the moment, the service is only available in English.
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“This is an Apple Books audiobook narrated by a digital voice based on a human narrator,” reads each audiobook listing that uses the company’s digital narration service. The listings reportedly include a mix of free and paid audiobooks available, and the artificial voices are perfectly intelligible but with an unmistakably artificial edge that lacks the warmth of a human storyteller.
