Audible narrators to create voice replicas using AI

To lower publication costs and speed up the release of audiobooks, Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Audible will begin inviting a small group of narrators to create replicas of their own voice using AI-generated speech technology.

During the beta, participants in the program will create a voice replica for free which Audiobook Creation Exchange, or ACX, will turn into a template for future narrations. Narrators will then be compensated for any audiobooks which use their AI-generated voice.

The initiative expands on a program last year in which Audible gave self-published authors the option of using a virtual voice to narrate their books. According to Bloomberg, as of May, more than 40K books available through Audible made use of the technology.

ACX is owned by Amazon (AMZN) and was launched by Audible in 2011.