A recent report from Bloomberg noted that Amazon’s beta program allowing invited KDP authors to produce audiobooks using synthetic machine narration has resulted in over 40,000 “virtual voice” audiobooks available through Audible so far. All of the titles are clearly labelled and introduced as having been created by “computer-generated narration for audiobooks.” At least some customers have asked Audible to provide a search filter that would omit the virtual voice titles. An Audible spokesperson writes to Bloomberg, “During the beta we are learning more about what our customers want as we continue to innovate on their behalf.” That person reports that […]
AI
PRH Develops Generative AI Tool for Employees
Further to our reporting last fall on how publishing teams are using generative AI tools for their day-to-day work, and Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya’s assertion that the company would embrace AI technology, earlier this year PRH introduced its own internal AI application, called PRH ChatGPT. In a statement, the company said, “PRH ChatGPT was launched as a way for our employees to safely experiment with generative AI during their daily work—to learn more about how the technology works and identify potential opportunities to enhance creativity and productivity.” The company made the program available to all employees in the […]
Harper to Create AI Audioboooks of Some Foreign Language Titles
Harper Collins will create AI audiobooks of select foreign language backlist titles, working with text-to-speech software company ElevenLabs. “The agreement will lead to the production of audio versions of select deep backlist series books that would not otherwise have been created.” ElevenLabs’ interface can create an audiobook in about an hour that will, according to Harper, “reflect the emotion, intonation, and pacing of the written word in audio, delivering a high-quality experience that sounds human,” the Bookseller reports. A release from ElevenLabs states that “HarperCollins will continue to devote time and resources to voice actor-led productions which are intrinsic to […]
Yes, Karp Was Surprised, Too
Regarding the reporting a week ago that Meta considered buying Simon & Schuster to strip mine the catalog for LLM training, the publisher’s ceo Jonathan Karp told a NYT podcast he was just as surprised by the news as you were: “It was really quite an experience for me. So Saturday morning I was eating my breakfast and reading the New York Times…eating my Grape-Nuts… And this was total news to me! I had no idea that this conversation was going on. The story was quoting private conversations that nobody knew about. This really was news to everybody. I’ve checked. […]
Open Submissions, Closed to AI
On Monday, Angry Robot Books announced an open submissions period for late April, but with a twist: “We will be doing things very different this year. We will be using something called Storywise, which is a non generative AI system that will help us sort submissions. This means that it does not learn from author’s works to inform an AI model, and therefore the AI model is not trained by your work.” But the community objected strongly to any use of AI in evaluating authors’ material. The publisher quickly dropped the idea, posting: “We have been watching & listening to […]
Meta Stole Everyone’s Books Because It Was Cheap and Convenient; Considered Buying S&S, But That Was Unnecessary
Big tech has had a voracious appetite for content to train their AI systems and these cash rich nation states all rationalized their way to theft at scale because it was faster and more convenient than legal solutions — and the legal and legislative system is incapable of holding them accountable in any reasonable timeframe. Thanks to its own lawsuit along with its reporting, the NYT documented the scale of illegal hubris: “At Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, managers, lawyers and engineers last year discussed buying the publishing house Simon & Schuster to procure long works, according to recordings […]