Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today is that post I promised you all on Friday. I've embedded the sound, so be sure you click to hear the audio. Now, let's talk about how AI differs from humans before we listen. After all, that's what you're here for, right? You love my ramblings so much you click my posts to read them, right? hahaha :)
Not.
Okay, grab a coffee and a blanket, and let's dive on in.
When I got an email about AI being an option for audiobooks, I was intrigued. I wondered how it would sound in contrast to a human. Being me, I dove on in and started on the samples. Sadly, I had coffee in my hand, and I had to clean my iPad screen afterward.
Not only is it bad; it's next-level bad. There's absolutely zero inflection. It's just the reading of the text on the page. I mean, if I'm going all out and doing audio, I'm going to have inflection in my story, someone to read it as it's meant to be read.
I did a quick comparison. Now, I don't have a recording booth, and I'm a shit narrator, so these sound like crap, but one is a lot more crap than the other. Listen closely. :)
Here's what we read:
Chapter One
New Year’s Day, 2042
“What were you thinking, Brit? You don’t know what that stuff’s gonna do to you!”
“What I was thinking was I wanna have a special ability like everyone else.”
Griffin’s temper rose so high, he could feel his nostrils flare. “Everyone? Not me.” His words came out with a growl, and Brittany flinched like he’d lashed at her with a knife. Tears sprang to her eyes, and he softened his tone. “You know how I feel about that drug. It’s not right to mess with nature.”
She shook her head. “I’ve heard what you think, and I believe you’re wrong. People that took M ten years ago are fine, and their kids have been born with an ability. I want to pass that on to my own… our kids—”
He lifted a hand. “There can never be an our again. You’ve sealed that fate. I refuse to be with someone who’s been tampered with. Remember, those people who took the original version of M, the one that was tested and run through a million clinical trials, paid through the nose for it. You’ve taken some street copy that costs a hundred bucks. There’s no telling what it’ll do to you long term.”
If you're a reader, you read like the second one, not the first. I'm not sure what kind of programming was done to make this a thing, and I'm not sure what they were thinking, releasing it before it's really ready to read like a person, but... OOF.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
That old saying truly hits the mark here. I mean, I get what they're trying to do, but because books aren't audio narration guides, and because this AI can't seem to pick up on nuances (punctuation, anyone?), it's very flat. Emotionless. Chapter one of M is all about emotion.
This is the moment the boy realizes he's lost the girl. He's angry, he feels betrayed, and he wants her to know where he stands. AI didn't convey any of that.
For me, this is a hard pass. There are a lot of ways AI can be useful, but this isn't one of them. Audiobook narrators are gems. Hard stop. Just like writers can't be replaced by AI because we sound different when you read our work in your head, narrators can't be replaced by AI because they aren't human and don't understand our speech and inflections.
If you're looking to have a book made into audio, I suggest Random Reads Studio. I met Christy, and she's one of the nicest people ever. She'll do a variety of payment options, too. Here's a quick soundbite of her voice on SoundCloud, so you can see if she's a fit for your book.
You can find her on ACX here, IG here, and Facebook at the link above. Even if you don't go with her, please branch out and find a human to narrate your book if you're going audible.
What did you think of the difference? Did you love it? Hate it? Drop me a comment and let me know!
I hope you all got something out of this post. You know I do my best to educate and keep you up to date on all the things. :)
Well, that's all for today, folks!
Until next time, WRITE ON!
Jo
