"Every book deserves to be heard."
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Apple Books has launched a new initiative to expand the number of audiobooks available on its store. It is inviting independent writers and larger publishers to opt-in to have their written books converted into audio form using AI voice synthesis models.
Apple announced the scheme towards the end of last year, and — as noted by The Guardian — the first AI-narrated books are now available to download in the Apple Books Store.
"In the Apple Books app, AI audiobooks are tagged with a ‘Narrated by Apple Books’ subtitle.
Interestingly, Apple is targeting specific genres for this initial rollout. Each genre of book is accompanied by a particular AI voice. Fiction and romance books are narrated by ‘Madison’ and ‘Jackson’. Non-fiction and self-development genre books will be narrated by ‘Helena’ and ‘Mitchell’.
Other genres of book like science fiction or thrillers are not currently supported.
You can hear samples of what these AI voices sound like here. Although you can probably still tell that the audio is generated rather than recorded by a human, they are very convincing and even higher fidelity than the quality of the realtime machine learning synthesised voice used for Siri.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Sigh
These amazing new tools aren't giving me compelling reasons to be alive.
Please love yourself.
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Apple Books has launched a new initiative to expand the number of audiobooks available on its store. It is inviting independent writers and larger publishers to opt-in to have their written books converted into audio form using AI voice synthesis models.
Apple announced the scheme towards the end of last year, and — as noted by The Guardian — the first AI-narrated books are now available to download in the Apple Books Store.
"In the Apple Books app, AI audiobooks are tagged with a ‘Narrated by Apple Books’ subtitle.
Interestingly, Apple is targeting specific genres for this initial rollout. Each genre of book is accompanied by a particular AI voice. Fiction and romance books are narrated by ‘Madison’ and ‘Jackson’. Non-fiction and self-development genre books will be narrated by ‘Helena’ and ‘Mitchell’.
Other genres of book like science fiction or thrillers are not currently supported.
You can hear samples of what these AI voices sound like here. Although you can probably still tell that the audio is generated rather than recorded by a human, they are very convincing and even higher fidelity than the quality of the realtime machine learning synthesised voice used for Siri.
@George-K said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
Other genres of book like science fiction or thrillers are not currently supported.
Oh? Why is that?
. . . even higher fidelity than the quality of the realtime machine learning synthesised voice used for Siri.
Well, that's what matters in literature, of course. Fidelity.
Snark aside, I can see a use for this, like increased (if it is an increase) access for the blind. Otherwise I don't really know enough.
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@George-K said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
Other genres of book like science fiction or thrillers are not currently supported.
Oh? Why is that?
. . . even higher fidelity than the quality of the realtime machine learning synthesised voice used for Siri.
Well, that's what matters in literature, of course. Fidelity.
Snark aside, I can see a use for this, like increased (if it is an increase) access for the blind. Otherwise I don't really know enough.
@Catseye3 said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
@George-K said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
Other genres of book like science fiction or thrillers are not currently supported.
Oh? Why is that?
. . . even higher fidelity than the quality of the realtime machine learning synthesised voice used for Siri.
Well, that's what matters in literature, of course. Fidelity.
Snark aside, I can see a use for this, like increased (if it is an increase) access for the blind. Otherwise I don't really know enough.
I think Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Thrillers aren’t supported yet because the stories are generally much more dramatic and require a little more acting and the creation of multiple voices for multiple characters. The AI’s aren’t quite there yet, and it would probably be quite a bit more cumbersome “voice editing” the AIs to change the tone in so many different points.
This is still very troubling and depressing.
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@Catseye3 said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
@George-K said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
Other genres of book like science fiction or thrillers are not currently supported.
Oh? Why is that?
. . . even higher fidelity than the quality of the realtime machine learning synthesised voice used for Siri.
Well, that's what matters in literature, of course. Fidelity.
Snark aside, I can see a use for this, like increased (if it is an increase) access for the blind. Otherwise I don't really know enough.
I think Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Thrillers aren’t supported yet because the stories are generally much more dramatic and require a little more acting and the creation of multiple voices for multiple characters. The AI’s aren’t quite there yet, and it would probably be quite a bit more cumbersome “voice editing” the AIs to change the tone in so many different points.
This is still very troubling and depressing.
@LuFins-Dad said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
@Catseye3 said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
@George-K said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
Other genres of book like science fiction or thrillers are not currently supported.
Oh? Why is that?
. . . even higher fidelity than the quality of the realtime machine learning synthesised voice used for Siri.
Well, that's what matters in literature, of course. Fidelity.
Snark aside, I can see a use for this, like increased (if it is an increase) access for the blind. Otherwise I don't really know enough.
I think Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Thrillers aren’t supported yet because the stories are generally much more dramatic and require a little more acting and the creation of multiple voices for multiple characters. The AI’s aren’t quite there yet, and it would probably be quite a bit more cumbersome “voice editing” the AIs to change the tone in so many different points.
This is still very troubling and depressing.
You know what's really sad? We have the ability to fix this, right now. All we have to do is decide to financially support creative endeavors like, oh I don't know voice actors. But we're not going to.
Sometimes I think Joe Rogan is right: Human beings exist to create their replacement and nothing more.
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Sigh
These amazing new tools aren't giving me compelling reasons to be alive.
@Aqua-Letifer said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
Sigh
These amazing new tools aren't giving me compelling reasons to be alive.
Indeed. Once machines can do anything we can do, what's the point? Where is our intrinsic value? To run the machines?
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The fact that computers are taking over our jobs isn't exactly new, and the impact caused by putting voice actors out of work is surely a lot less than all the manufacturing and administrative folk who have already had to find another job.
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The fact that computers are taking over our jobs isn't exactly new, and the impact caused by putting voice actors out of work is surely a lot less than all the manufacturing and administrative folk who have already had to find another job.
@Doctor-Phibes said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
The fact that computers are taking over our jobs isn't exactly new, and the impact caused by putting voice actors out of work is surely a lot less than all the manufacturing and administrative folk who have already had to find another job.
What do you mean "the impact"? Like, economic impact? The number of livelihoods it's affected? Completely agree.
But aside from jobs, AI is going to fuck us up big time. Once we stop making things ourselves and hearing stories from other people, we forfeit a big part of our humanity.
And yeah I know how that sounds, but remind me again, are suicide rates going up or down in the developed world? Is the mental health crisis getting better, or worse? And how much of this comes from lack of connection and over-reliance on technology? Absolutely none?
This shit is going to cause problems.
Please love yourself.
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Season 1 Episode 23 "A Taste of Armageddon"
On Eminiar VII, the Enterprise finds a civilization at war with its planetary neighbor. Unable to discern any signs of battle from orbit, Captain Kirk leads a landing party to the surface, where he discovers the entire war is fought by computer.
Though the war is simulated, citizens who are listed as virtual casualties still report to termination booths to be killed for real. After the Enterprise is destroyed in an attack simulation, Kirk must fight to keep his crew from death.
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Would the blind prefer audio books read with AI synthesized voice or (AI transcoded) Braille?
Logistically, given the technology and hardware we have today, it looks to me "making every book available as an audiobook" is more feasible than "making every book available in Braille.
No idea how illustrations/graphics would be handled, though.
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@Doctor-Phibes said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
The fact that computers are taking over our jobs isn't exactly new, and the impact caused by putting voice actors out of work is surely a lot less than all the manufacturing and administrative folk who have already had to find another job.
What do you mean "the impact"? Like, economic impact? The number of livelihoods it's affected? Completely agree.
But aside from jobs, AI is going to fuck us up big time. Once we stop making things ourselves and hearing stories from other people, we forfeit a big part of our humanity.
And yeah I know how that sounds, but remind me again, are suicide rates going up or down in the developed world? Is the mental health crisis getting better, or worse? And how much of this comes from lack of connection and over-reliance on technology? Absolutely none?
This shit is going to cause problems.
@Aqua-Letifer said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
@Doctor-Phibes said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
The fact that computers are taking over our jobs isn't exactly new, and the impact caused by putting voice actors out of work is surely a lot less than all the manufacturing and administrative folk who have already had to find another job.
What do you mean "the impact"? Like, economic impact? The number of livelihoods it's affected? Completely agree.
But aside from jobs, AI is going to fuck us up big time. Once we stop making things ourselves and hearing stories from other people, we forfeit a big part of our humanity.
And yeah I know how that sounds, but remind me again, are suicide rates going up or down in the developed world? Is the mental health crisis getting better, or worse? And how much of this comes from lack of connection and over-reliance on technology? Absolutely none?
This shit is going to cause problems.
My point was that it's been causing problems for 30-40 years. This is just the next stage.
I was only joking
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Can we address the very notion that Every Book Deserves to be Heard? I kind of disagree with that very premise…
The Brad
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@Aqua-Letifer said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
@Doctor-Phibes said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
The fact that computers are taking over our jobs isn't exactly new, and the impact caused by putting voice actors out of work is surely a lot less than all the manufacturing and administrative folk who have already had to find another job.
What do you mean "the impact"? Like, economic impact? The number of livelihoods it's affected? Completely agree.
But aside from jobs, AI is going to fuck us up big time. Once we stop making things ourselves and hearing stories from other people, we forfeit a big part of our humanity.
And yeah I know how that sounds, but remind me again, are suicide rates going up or down in the developed world? Is the mental health crisis getting better, or worse? And how much of this comes from lack of connection and over-reliance on technology? Absolutely none?
This shit is going to cause problems.
My point was that it's been causing problems for 30-40 years. This is just the next stage.
@Doctor-Phibes said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
@Aqua-Letifer said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
@Doctor-Phibes said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
The fact that computers are taking over our jobs isn't exactly new, and the impact caused by putting voice actors out of work is surely a lot less than all the manufacturing and administrative folk who have already had to find another job.
What do you mean "the impact"? Like, economic impact? The number of livelihoods it's affected? Completely agree.
But aside from jobs, AI is going to fuck us up big time. Once we stop making things ourselves and hearing stories from other people, we forfeit a big part of our humanity.
And yeah I know how that sounds, but remind me again, are suicide rates going up or down in the developed world? Is the mental health crisis getting better, or worse? And how much of this comes from lack of connection and over-reliance on technology? Absolutely none?
This shit is going to cause problems.
My point was that it's been causing problems for 30-40 years. This is just the next stage.
Yeah I gotcha, I'm just saying that in addition to those, this new technology will cause very serious and obvious problems no one's looking at yet.
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Can we address the very notion that Every Book Deserves to be Heard? I kind of disagree with that very premise…
@LuFins-Dad said in "Every book deserves to be heard.":
Can we address the very notion that Every Book Deserves to be Heard? I kind of disagree with that very premise…
Works for an ad conceit, though.
