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AI is coming for audiobooks, and that is not an entirely bad thing. But it is a cause of concern in the realm of audio titles and the folks who make them today. Audible<\/a> is making it easy for authors to generate AI-narrated audiobooks, and as in many cases of AI showing up in an established industry, there\u2019s worry that the creative folks are going to get squeezed out by the robots.<\/p>\n The concern is valid. After all, shouldn\u2019t the robots help us do\u00a0more<\/em> art, instead of doing the art for us? Isn\u2019t that backwards.<\/p>\n On the other hand, it\u2019s clear that not every book that is written can afford to hire a narrator, an editor, and a team to handle audio publishing. I suspect that the more commercially-viable titles are still going to work with the best narrators. After all, they can afford it. But the middle-tier of narrators and authors might find that AI is just so cheap for audiobook creation that it\u2019s not financially reasonable to pay a human to do it.<\/p>\n In a sense, consumers will decide. If they shun AI-read titles, the market will adapt. But will they? We\u2019ll have to wait and see.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the demand side of the equation. The supply side is already sorted. There are tens of thousands of AI-read titles\u00a0today<\/em> on Audible<\/a>. Let\u2019s see what happens, hit play!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n