Any thoughts on real-person audio books and AI reading?

Arthur1101 · 03-11-2026, 11:26 PM

I'm listening to both real-person audio books and AI audiobooks. It doesn't matter to me.
But after talking with my friends, I found that their viewpoints were still quite different. Some of my friends think that AI reading will seize the market and lead to the unemployment of real voice actors. But personally, I think AI audio books have not reached that level at all.
I have used various AI audiobook apps, such as Speechify, Elevenreader, or their free alternative Readify. Although their TTS are good, there is still a gap compared to real people.
The true value of these AI audiobook applications that use TTS technology, in my opinion, lies in providing an opportunity for those niche books that basically have no voice actors to do the dubbing to be transformed into audiobooks.
What do you think?

theducks · 03-11-2026, 11:58 PM

If words are all that counts, then TTS
But then...
Who cares about pronunciation!
Who cares about contextual emotion!
Who cares about different character voices and accents! And speaking with the wrong accent for the character is the biggest sin.

A Voice actor can make or break a book.

Don't believe me? Spend a little time on YT listening to the AI dreck (there might be a good tale that is ruined by un-proofed AI voices).
Totally wrong pronunciation. And don't get me started with the spelling errors in the captions or title (I am not considering regional variations as errors).
Oh! What about INCONSISTENT errors for the same word or phrase?

rantanplan · 03-12-2026, 03:36 AM

Whenever there's something new now, I already assume that it's in some way AI assisted. And a lot of stuff stopped being enjoyable. Remember the Banana Fish AI dub??

Quoth · 03-12-2026, 05:43 AM

I tried Google's AI audio book service to sell Audio books. It was no better than TTS and terrible for any fiction not mainline American English.

Use TTS or buy human read audiobooks by decent narrators.

Frogm4n · 03-12-2026, 12:17 PM

AI "recorded" audiobooks vs TTS are my line.

AI in place of a human reader on a prerecorded audiobook? Nope, nope, nope. I already DNF a bad human voice actor and AI replacing even them is a worse option in my book.

TTS with a local AI voice model? Meh, it'd be ok and better than a simple and gratingly robotic TTS.

meeera · Yesterday, 01:52 AM

If audiobooks move to AI, there's no reason at all to pay a premium for them. You can just do your own TTS.

Adam Scribentis · Yesterday, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

If words are all that counts, then TTS
But then...
Who cares about pronunciation!
Who cares about contextual emotion!
Who cares about different character voices and accents! And speaking with the wrong accent for the character is the biggest sin.

A Voice actor can make or break a book.

Don't believe me? Spend a little time on YT listening to the AI dreck (there might be a good tale that is ruined by un-proofed AI voices).
Totally wrong pronunciation. And don't get me started with the spelling errors in the captions or title (I am not considering regional variations as errors).
Oh! What about INCONSISTENT errors for the same word or phrase?

Quite!

DJUNGELSKOG · Yesterday, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meeera

If audiobooks move to AI, there's no reason at all to pay a premium for them. You can just do your own TTS.

^^^ This.

That said, I like TTS and I've been using it for a while. I don't understand why it's suddenly being marketed as "AI". Would I pay money for it? Nope, I already have a Pocketbook device with TTS built-in, Siri's enhanced voices do a decent job these days, and I can always run a local model.

rantanplan · Yesterday, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meeera

If audiobooks move to AI, there's no reason at all to pay a premium for them. You can just do your own TTS.

I think you don't understand capitalism. Amazon & co. will first buy a stake into all companies that provide tools for this task. Then they'll just do a hostile takeover, kill the company and make the tool unavailable for the public. Maybe you can host you own models, but that's just you, that 1% of the people interested in audio books.

John F · Yesterday, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rantanplan

I think you don't understand capitalism. Amazon & co. will first buy a stake into all companies that provide tools for this task. Then they'll just do a hostile takeover, kill the company and make the tool unavailable for the public. Maybe you can host you own models, but that's just you, that 1% of the people interested in audio books.

As long as they don't raise the price, does it matter? All those companies get a nice payday and everyone is happy.

rantanplan · Yesterday, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F

As long as they don't raise the price, does it matter? All those companies get a nice payday and everyone is happy.

Keeping the price but lowering the quality of the product or lowering the price for the production of the audio book is as bad as raising the price.

Gormagon · Today, 07:26 AM

I don't listen to audio books. When I'm not at home I like to carry one of my DAPs to listen to music. When I'm at home or anywhere where I have some time, I rather read myself than being read to.

Anyway...if I ever should pick up audio books I would like the text being read by a voice like Herbert Marshall, William Powell or Myrna Loy. If it's a text with lot of "R"s listen to the voice of Kay Francis may be entertaining ("Gwegowy, we awwive in Mandaly tomowwow. We ah two wecked people."). All these actors are dead as a dodo and the only opportunity to hear than on new texts is by AI generated voices of these actors.
If such a feature ever becomes available for free I will give it a try!

03-11-2026, 11:26 PM	#1
Arthur1101 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2026 Device: Iphone 17 pro	Any thoughts on real-person audio books and AI reading? I'm listening to both real-person audio books and AI audiobooks. It doesn't matter to me. But after talking with my friends, I found that their viewpoints were still quite different. Some of my friends think that AI reading will seize the market and lead to the unemployment of real voice actors. But personally, I think AI audio books have not reached that level at all. I have used various AI audiobook apps, such as Speechify, Elevenreader, or their free alternative Readify. Although their TTS are good, there is still a gap compared to real people. The true value of these AI audiobook applications that use TTS technology, in my opinion, lies in providing an opportunity for those niche books that basically have no voice actors to do the dubbing to be transformed into audiobooks. What do you think?

03-12-2026, 03:36 AM	#3
rantanplan Weirdo Posts: 1,058 Karma: 12502580 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra 2, reMarkable PaperPro	Whenever there's something new now, I already assume that it's in some way AI assisted. And a lot of stuff stopped being enjoyable. Remember the Banana Fish AI dub?? Last edited by rantanplan; 03-12-2026 at 03:41 AM.

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03-11-2026, 11:58 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,589 Karma: 62544528 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	If words are all that counts, then TTS But then... Who cares about pronunciation! Who cares about contextual emotion! Who cares about different character voices and accents! And speaking with the wrong accent for the character is the biggest sin. A Voice actor can make or break a book. Don't believe me? Spend a little time on YT listening to the AI dreck (there might be a good tale that is ruined by un-proofed AI voices). Totally wrong pronunciation. And don't get me started with the spelling errors in the captions or title (I am not considering regional variations as errors). Oh! What about INCONSISTENT errors for the same word or phrase?

03-12-2026, 05:43 AM	#4
Quoth Still reading Posts: 15,353 Karma: 113121827 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	I tried Google's AI audio book service to sell Audio books. It was no better than TTS and terrible for any fiction not mainline American English. Use TTS or buy human read audiobooks by decent narrators.

03-12-2026, 12:17 PM	#5
Frogm4n Fanatic Posts: 597 Karma: 4016635 Join Date: Jul 2023 Device: Scribe 2022, OA2, PRS-350	AI "recorded" audiobooks vs TTS are my line. AI in place of a human reader on a prerecorded audiobook? Nope, nope, nope. I already DNF a bad human voice actor and AI replacing even them is a worse option in my book. TTS with a local AI voice model? Meh, it'd be ok and better than a simple and gratingly robotic TTS.

Yesterday, 01:52 AM	#6
meeera Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,904 Karma: 72310612 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2, iPadMini4, iPad4, MBP; support other Kobo/Kindles	If audiobooks move to AI, there's no reason at all to pay a premium for them. You can just do your own TTS.

Today, 07:26 AM	#12
Gormagon monstrous mythical beast Posts: 85 Karma: 4000000 Join Date: May 2023 Location: Klopstokia Device: Tab Ultra C, Meebook P78 Pro, Viwoods AIPaper Reader, various NXTPAPER	I don't listen to audio books. When I'm not at home I like to carry one of my DAPs to listen to music. When I'm at home or anywhere where I have some time, I rather read myself than being read to. Anyway...if I ever should pick up audio books I would like the text being read by a voice like Herbert Marshall, William Powell or Myrna Loy. If it's a text with lot of "R"s listen to the voice of Kay Francis may be entertaining ("Gwegowy, we awwive in Mandaly tomowwow. We ah two wecked people."). All these actors are dead as a dodo and the only opportunity to hear than on new texts is by AI generated voices of these actors. If such a feature ever becomes available for free I will give it a try!

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