Amazon announces AI for Audible

Audible has announced it will begin offering AI-powered narration and translation to select publishers, reported Publishers Weekly (PW).

Over the next few months, publishers will be given options to use narration services via a self-service process or through an ‘Audible-managed, end-to-end production’.

Audible CEO Bob Carrigan told PW: ‘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. 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.’

AI translation services – via either text-to-text or speech-to-speech – will begin in beta late 2025. Audible highlighted supporting translations for English to Spanish, French, Italian, and German.

‘Publishers can opt for human review from professional linguists to ensure translation accuracy and cultural nuance, and will be able to review the translations themselves in our text editor,’ said the organisation.

Emily Lawrence, cofounder of the Professional Audiobook Narrators Association (PANA) and president of its board of directors, told PW in an earlier article, ‘It’s very easy to reduce this issue to dollars and cents, but it’s very complicated and nuanced’, citing not just the economies of audiobook production, but also the ethics.

PW also reported on the growing use of AI in publishing audio more generally, citing Spotify’s partnership with ElevenLabs which offers AI audiobook production for self-published authors. In the UK, HarperCollins has also partnered with ElevenLabs.

Category: International news