The subject of AI reading audiobooks has come up a number of times, and today I bring you an interesting article from Brian’s Book Blog: Audible’s Virtual Voice is Flooding the Market.
Brian talks in depth about the potential harm and ramifications of relying on the Virtual Voice to read audiobooks and he backed it up with some interesting numbers. We support his position, with the caveat that Virtual Voice may become a necessary tool for visually impaired readers who otherwise wouldn’t have access to the written text.
So what does Virtual Voice sound like? Here is an example. Gordon had a very strong reaction to it. It was a no right away. I listened to about a minute before the weird flatness got me. It just doesn’t have the warmth and range of a human voice.
That’s what AI cannot bring to life — real human emotion. All books have emotions of some kind, some different than others, but all of them have emotions. And there is no way that a computer without feeling can understand and relay that information to a reader. Sure, it can tell me the story, but how is that different than any text-to-speech software that’s out there? I know that some people use and utilize TTS due to some disabilities, but none of them would tell you that any TTS software makes them feel like they’re part of the story or narrative, or that any of them have “life” in their voices.
Brian’s Book Blog
We will not be using Virtual Voice in the production of our audiobooks. With that in mind, I bring you the voice of Roman. This is a cold audition, with Chris reading excerpts with no context. Before everyone gets upset, we know he mispronounced a couple of things, specifically Shinar. I forgot to give him the audio clip for it. No worries, all that will be fixed in the final recording.
The unfortunate reality of all of this is that AI is here to stay. As Mod R put it, “It can feel like holding a finger in the dyke against the deluge: ultimately the indie market will choose the AI covers, and AI voices, and writers will use ChatGPT to edit and proofread, because people want it fast and free.”
In the commercial space, fast and free usually wins. Midjourney is already capable of generating images which most people without an artistic background would find captivating. It can make a cover in seconds. No need to pay the artist, especially if you are just slapping together an object cover. Adobe Photoshop now comes with an AI generator built in. Check this out:
One of the authors I’ve known for years just put out an indie book with an AI cover. I do feel that she probably paid someone to make it, but it’s still an AI cover. I’ve read some 70 comments on her Facebook post. Nobody called her on it. People thought the cover was pretty. Whoever made it didn’t even bother to file off the proverbial serial numbers – it has Midjourney standard face and weird lighting stamped all over it.
Right now someone is probably reading a Chat GPT novel. And who knows, it might do the job. Although that might be a bit off. I’ve asked Chat GPT to continue our writing sample.
Our text:
Please write 2 paragraphs continuing the following scene:
Snow crunched under his feet. It spread in front of him like a glittering blanket, a foot deep, sheathing the vast plain he was crossing, and he sank a little with every step. Above, a night sky gaped like a hole in existence, a spray of stars floating in its black depths.
He didn’t know how long he had been walking. It felt like forever. He didn’t know his destination either. He only felt it, pulling him like a magnet toward the dark wall of colossal fir trees at the edge of the plain.
Step. Another step.
Bitter cold bit at his face. His nose had gone numb, and he could barely feel his fingers in thick red mittens as he clutched the rope pulled tight over his shoulder.
He was holding a rope. Why?
It felt strange somehow.
He stopped and looked over his shoulder. An enormous fir tree lay on the snow behind him. The rope was wrapped around its trunk. Behind it, a long trail of rough snow marked his wake and rolled off into the horizon. He had dragged the tree for miles.
Chat GPT’s response:
The man stood in the silent expanse, his breath forming ethereal clouds in the frigid air. The only sound was the muffled crunch of snow beneath his boots, a rhythmic percussion that matched the beat of his weary heart. The forest loomed ahead, the towering firs casting elongated shadows in the moonlight. A sense of foreboding gripped him, yet the magnetic pull toward the dark woods intensified. The stars above seemed to conspire with the trees, whispering secrets that only the night could understand.
With a hesitant resolve, he resumed his journey, the rope taut in his gloved hands. As he approached the forest’s edge, the trees seemed to close in on him, their branches forming a natural gateway into the unknown. The air grew thicker, laden with the scent of pine and mystery. He hesitated for a moment, peering into the darkness beneath the canopy. A subtle rustling echoed from within, a symphony of unseen creatures awakening in the night. The man took a deep breath, summoning the courage to step into the shadowy embrace of the towering firs.
The forest swallowed him whole, the snow-covered ground muffling his footsteps. The colossal trees stood like sentinels, their limbs entwined in a dance of ancient secrets. As he ventured deeper, the man became acutely aware of a presence, an intangible force that seemed to guide him through the maze of trunks and shadows. His senses heightened, attuned to the subtle whispers of the forest. The rope in his hands now felt like a lifeline connecting him to the unknown, unraveling a tale written in the language of nature itself. Each step brought him further into the heart of the enigma, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that the answers to his questions lay hidden among the ancient firs.
It is both flowery and overwritten, and oddly sappy somehow. A word salad. Chat GPT apparently quite loves the sound of its own prose, heh. Don’t we all.
The supporters of AI often accuse their opponents of being Luddites and trying to hold back progress. And in some sense, they are right. The original Luddites protested automation that led to the production of inferior products. We already have a proliferation of speed-written books out there. If Chat GPT becomes widely used, KU will be flooded with its offerings.
Why would any human bother to read something another human didn’t bother to write? Or to paint or to record?
Where does it leave all of us working in a creative field? I don’t know. We will see.
I am the first. “There can be only one!”
Good one! Nice Sean Connery impression!
😂😂
LOL! You are a smartass. This is only one of the many reasons why we love you. 🙂
I find CHAT GPT’s prose disturbing. I’m assuming it can’t write a book/scene without initial human input ?
You have to give it a prompt, yes, it doesn’t spontaneously start to generate things – but it needn’t be a sample of writing.
For example, I just asked it to “write a limerick about how much Mod R loves Roman”, no specification about who these individuals were or anything else:
“There once was a mod named R, oh so keen,
Whose love for Roman was quite unforeseen.
With toga and laurel,
He’d cheer him, no quarrel,
In forums, his praises were evergreen!”
It’s obvi nonsense, but will respect the limerick formula- the main problem is that it will reuse the same wording and themes for other limericks and a lot of people will end up with very similar results. The longer the piece of writing is, the more the formulaic nature, purple prose and general waffliness becomes apparent. It says not much with a lot of words. “Kill your darlings” is not a thing for AI because it can’t discern.
I can do better than that in 5 minutes!
There once was a mod named Mod R
For whom Roman shone like a star
Though it causes some friction
When we tell her he’s fiction
She continues to pine from afar…
That’s BRILLIANT! 😍😍😍 I love it!
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Excellent! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
+1 awesome
WONDERFUL!
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
What they said!
Could we have a dedicated section on the blog for fan art? Texts and music, too. I do remember this haunting song from Kate’s grandmother “I’m alive”. That belongs there aswell and I’d love to listen to it again!
That is BRILLIANT!
What’s more, it makes the point so beautifully. It’s good fun using AI to entertain yourself and it can even get you started on a dull document if you are feeling stuck, but reading a whole book written by AI… hahhahahahahahahhahaha. Not likely.
Awesome!
Bravo! The better tempo of your limerick is far superior!
Love it!
Bravo!
I find AI really fascinating – having “conversations” with it, brainstorming ideas etc. Aside from the ethical/legal issues with how it was developed, I think there are some interesting ways it will become part of people’s lives. Claude, for example can provide critical feedback about writing when prompted with specific questions. While that feedback won’t be up to the standard of a professional editor, for someone who is a hobbyist without the money to spend, it might be a starting point for learning.
That said, I agree – there is a certain flatness to AI output. It can generate content like nothing else, but that content doesn’t necessarily resonate with readers. Writers can go back in and rewrite, edit, improve, but I wonder if the amount of work required to get it to produce something awesome wouldn’t be better spent just writing a non-ai draft? I also agree – ebook retailers are going to be flooded by AI written books. Some may be passable but I suspect it’s going to become harder and harder to find books that satisfy if buying from an unknown author.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this! I’d wondered where you both had landed on this topic.
You know what happens to those who are first and not named McCloud — “thwack!”
The clip took a bit before the lack of emotion got to me. But I had to laugh at Chat’s attempt. That AI really loves trees!
OMG! I recognize this voice. This is Chris Brinkley, yes? Woohoo! I am a huge fan.
Indeed he is! And same 😀
Interesting the cues that it picked up from the “seed” text – and the feeling that there will never be a resolution to the AI bits, poor Roman will just continue to be lost in the forest forever.
Agreed, it seems like the AI can describe things all day long in the most flowery terms, but it has no concept of the action in storytelling. A “story” with just descriptions is a travel ad, not a novel.
So much to say.
1. I tried to listen to an audio book from another author I enjoy and a book I know and reread regularly. After 10 minutes I had to stop. The reader spoke in a fast, clipped, monotone, which didn’t fit my view of the characters at all. And there was almost no change in voice pattern between characters. So live readers can be as bad. Which is why I SOOO appreciate that you vet your audio book readers. It makes all the difference to my experience.
2. AI generated reading might be perfect for nonemotional content like textbooks, dictionaries, cook books, or manuals. Especially because I am finding that reading AND listening to the same thing really ups my comprehension and retention.
3. The AI generated text you provide is simply descriptive without real content. Paraphrasing Lois Bujold, “Every paragraph should push the story along or why is it there?” There is no story in the AI content just scenery and a repeat of the story elements already provided.
4. Finally, I have to wonder if AI might eventually do a better job if given a story outline to work from. My niece uses AI to create the first draft of some of her business communication because it saves time. She never sends that draft out, but she starts with it and then edits.
From what I understand, any content generated by AI is not “owned” by the person making the request or query or whatever you want to call it. That means it’s possible for it to turn up verbatim in other places. Problematic if you’re an author trying to protect your work.
With ChatGPT you have the option to not share with others, but then your text will be erased after 30 days.
The paid version has even more options.
I suspect AI will go the way of most Freeware.
A limited version for free, which will be enough for the occasional user.
A paid version for the professional user.
The US Copyright Office (the federal agency that issues copyright) has interpreted current US copyright law as requiring a person to create a work, therefore making any AI created works public domain. It hasn’t issued a formal statement yet, that should be coming sometime this year, but it has denied or revoked copyrights on AI works.
Roman’s voice is great!
I think AI can be useful for doing certain tasks, but the point of art, whether writing, painting or even crafting allows human input and this is what makes it art, not a mechanical rendering.
Just my opinion.
From a communication seminar I attended, 70% of human communication is nonverbal. (Which is why texting is frustrating.) The best AI can achieve is to convey 30% of the message. That maybe enough in some situations but not in storytelling. When I read the “real” except from the serial I felt Roman’s anger and resignation where the AI conveyed fear. I don’t think that was what House Andrews wanted.
Maybe I am hypersensitive but you get used to an author’s style and how they take you into the story, that AI scene was not going anywhere. I think if I listened to it long or even read it long it enough I would fall asleep.
I know at this point the AI/ML distinction really is only academic because the media decided it was all AI, but as someone that works in IT, I always twitch academically when something is called AI. Academically we have yet to actually create AI. The distinction is the inability to actually create original content. Instead what we have is Machine Learning that takes the works of others and has learned how to mash it together into something similar, but ultimately unoriginal. Just because an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters will eventually write the complete works of Shakespeare doesn’t mean I’m going to hire them to write a play. Even if most movies nowadays aren’t that dissimilar from what ChatGPT creates.
I am paralyzed between wanting to avoid AI until I can no longer hide and feeling like I should inform myself so I’m capable when the time comes, which seems to be now … Sarah Conner in between terminator 1 and 2…definitely not jacked and ready to kick butt.
ChatGPT has its own distinctive voice. As an English teacher, I’ve become very familiar with it. Anytime I give my students a writing prompt, I also run it through ChatGPT so that I can recognize the cheaters faster.
Had hilarious attempts at cheating from students back in the late 90s when Babelfish was first out. I imagine it’s a lot harder to spot AI cheaters!
I just don’t get sucked into the AI story, whereas I am RIGHT THERE freezing my gluteous maximus off in the original.
😀
While I think Chris Brinkley is an amazing voice actor, I will forever associate him with the Winston Brothers series by Penny Reid. I totally “hear” Roman with a slightly Slavic accent. But that’s just me.
He does have an accent if you listen carefully 🙂 , at minute 1:09 with “what you’re capable of” and “grow and evolve all the time”- those are definitely the hard “b” and “v”s of Eastern Europe. It’s subtle, and that is on purpose.
Roman is canonically “light” on the Russian accent and perfectly capable of sounding pure American, he affects the Russian because he has to maintain the Dark Priest of Slavic God appearances. It’s a choice not to make him sound like the Muppet Count von Count with “I vant” exaggerations.
Now I expected Roman to have at least a little bit of a Jawja accent. Not a Deep South drawl, but a more urban one. Maybe he turns that one on and off too?
For BDH members who are not from the Deep South:
Jawja = the localized pronunciation of the U.S. state of “Georgia”, since the KD stories mostly take place in Adlanna (oops, I mean “Atlanta” :-D).
I did have to say it out loud to get it 😀
Alternate spelling: Etlanna
💖
The one I hear most often is Alanna.
I dunno whatch’all talkin’ ’bout. Next door here in Alabama, y’all are Hotlanta. More local to me, we got Huntsvegas and The ‘Ham (complete with the best pulled pork barbecue anywhere).
Ya’ll are all killin me…I’m in Savannah, Georgia and yep, my Mama’s folks arrived here around 1790…I have the DEEP South accent. 😜 I appreciate the AI discussion. I’m not a huge audio book fan, as the pacing often distracts me. I agree that the performance makes a huge difference to the experience. If I needed AI due to a disability, I’d be very appreciative. But I’ll read until my eyes give out. I guess I’m a semi-proud Luddite, as I find lots of tech to be jarring, though I appreciate my IPhone. Knowledge at my fingertips is powerful, but I recognize the source makes all the difference. I expect the only way to effectively control AI content is for people to stop reading/listening and paying for substandard content. As long as it’s profitable, buyer be ware, it’s here to stay.
That’s like Tranna. A large city on the north shore of Lake Ontario spelled Toronto. 🙂
I like the voice for Roman. I figure he will be even better after reading the entire story and knowing the pronunciations.
No way could AI replicate that.
hesitant resolve???
ROMAN??
I couldn’t finish after that. So flowery. word glad is the perfect description.
I do find the “don’t steal my AI creations” movement pretty amusing tho
I love Chris Brinkley. I did listen to him for the Winston Bros series, but he has small nuances that change with each character so its never quite the same. Looking forward to Romans audio.
One of my favorite passages in the clip! Thank you!
I’m already so picky about authentic voice in books, I’m not likely to enjoy anything AI generated.
My computer didn’t like the audio clip, but that is one fine voice.
Just listened this morning to an article on NPR about AI theft of books-subsequently posted for sale on Amazon with different covers and an AI “author.”
I know this is off-topic but it has me concerned for bestselling authors like yourselves-you work so hard and I want you to be paid for it! AI is such a double-edged sword.
😑 word salad.
I also felt like the prompted version of the story was he would walk Forever without question. Bo-ring
I have extensive reading experience. And I use ChatGPT for menial tasks. I can tell you that the world is already flooded with a huge quantity of ”books” written by authors nobody heard of, with the same handful of wilted tropes, the same cardboard character types. Some of them even have good ratings on Goodreads.
There is more to a book than just the writing. A good book has a compelling plot without holes and characters with complex dynamic and evolution. No AI can do this. AI can generate ”pretty” art and pages of text that sound good and nothing more, and unfortunately millions of people are content with these, otherwise AI wouldn’t have been so successful.
The real, good books and the real art crafted by human creativity will remain something for the ”connoisseurs”, while the millions of mindless consumers of ”more, cheap and fast” will eventually forget how it is to use their brains.
I am harsh but I am furious about this situation. This is not about being against progress, because, in the grand scheme of things, there is no progress in drying out human creativity.
I was a little impressed with the AI reader. there was more variation and rhythm than I expected. it said “veil” with the appropriate drop off instead of flat (you just dont say “veil” with a straight tone). I agree that we humans are more musical than the AI reader, but I think if I got used to it I could fill in the song. the biggest complaint I had was that it was 10% too slow. My goodness the tedium.
I really don’t like AI, it creeps me out. I was at a travel expo in February and Pauline Frommer was speaking about reputable travel guides-she mentioned that there is a fake guide book out by Mike Steves, it is a ripoff of Rick Steves’s guide books. In the fake book they talk about the seasons and when they come to autumn it talks about being careful not to fall, nothing about traveling. Also during a resume writing class using ChatGPT the speakers said that the software makes things up regarding your employment history and that once you input your information it stays in the data bank and it can be used anywhere and in other peoples resumes 😐.
My hope is that AI will be ultimately rejected in producing original works. I’m already leary of “new” authors that have appeared. I’d prefer my stories to come from human beings. I feel like the rights of creatives to own and make a living off their work is being threatened by a machine that knows no legal bounds. When is AI going to say, “Hmm, this work sounds like the well-know author Ilona Andrews. Legal limitations will not permit me to process your request for a new story about (insert character name here.)? Because if it is so smart, then the managers of it should be able to program it to do such things.
Unfortunately, it’s the opposite. You can tell the generative AI that you want it to sound like Ilona Andrews and it will try to make it so. How it does that when it denies having scraped authors’ intellectual property is a very curious business…
There is definite proof that generative AI was trained using copyrighted work, including by House Andrews- you can see the substack The Atlantic has acquired https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/books3-database-generative-ai-training-copyright-infringement/675363/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share and use their search. You’ll be surprised.
A good *human* narrator can totally bring a book to life which is clearly missing from AI (at least for me). There have been books that I thought “just weren’t for me” that I became a big fan of once I listened instead of read it myself. I’ve also discovered new authors/books from following a favorite narrator.
The AI generated writing made me laugh. Clearly it’s no match for House Andrews!
We, of the BDH, know that the AI writing sample, was not describing anything about Roman.
It doesn’t sound or feel like any of your books.
I am retired and on a limited budget, but am part of the BDH that will support you any way I can.
That means paying for your quality.
I don’t know when people who are not involved in creative fields (like writing, music, art, photography, etc.) started to feel entitled to the work product of those who are for free or for a small pittance. I have heard people say nonsense like, “If you charge for this you won’t have nearly as many people reading it. You will get more recognition if you make it free!”
I have to feel it is an off-shoot of the “clicks and likes are as good as currency” attitude that many younger folks have, but even before this you would see people who wanted free wedding photographers because “my wedding will definitely be a social event that will get your name out there” and “all you do it click a button, we’re feeding you, so that should be enough.”
I have done portrait drawings and paintings from life or from photos and people love the idea of that, but not so much the idea of PAYING for that.
It is one of the reasons I decided to teach math instead of being a portrait painter full time. Even then some lunatic will try to shame you into volunteering your time for free because if you are a teacher you are “supposed to care about your students.” It so happens I DO care about them, but I also have bills to pay and a workman is worthy of his hire.
This is actually factually incorrect. I used to work for a consulting firm that published the occasional book. They ran studies, others ran studies, their audiences were far more likely to read the book if they paid for it than if it was given for free. Even if it was a $2 pittance. Free obviously meant no good.
As someone who sews (mostly costumes)- there is definitely a prejudice that creative work isn’t “real” work. Drawing and writing for free, work for “exposure” – it’s staggering. And infuriating. I didn’t spend years (or decades) of my life learning the skills I use in my creative pursuits for that effort to be denigrated. “AI” has made valuation of creative pursuits drop by making those activities seem effortless.
Two things come to mind when I hear about these issues; one, “people die from exposure”; and two, the cost of labor isn’t just the time I spend now to make a thing, but also the past hours of studying to know how to make that thing.
(simmering rage)
I got a book that was in an AI voice, and it was horrible. It was obvious because it was so emotionless, just a series of words until a character with an accent was read. They used a real person for that. Totally ruined a most excellent book. I am glad that you all are not going to allow that!
I agree that the machine reading option is great for people who are unable to read things themselves, but real people are definitely better at it. It could be really useful for school items, like textbooks, for visually impaired folks when other options aren’t available.
Personally, I don’t care for traditional audiobooks because I sometimes have trouble distinguishing between characters when it’s all read by the same person, but I know they’re very popular. That’s why I love the Graphic Audio books sooo very much because I know who’s speaking! (I have hearing issues.)
That is a wonderful Roman though! Question, is it pronounced Ro-man (like the people from Rome) or Ro-mán? Thanks! 🤗
Román, the second one- not like something that is from Rome.
Thanks Mod R! 🤗
I don’t like to mispronounce things, even if it’s just in my own head. 😁
overworked mom here, running out of time, needing 12 rhyming tropical themed indoor (but not in personal spaces) treasure hunt clues for a hoard of 8-year-olds descending the next day for a birthday party.
chatGPT delivered. saved my bacon.
There were some specific places I wanted to hide things so I had to follow up my prompt with a few more specific requests. One time I forgot to specify it was for 8-year-olds and the difference between the 8-year-old version and the adult version was hilarious. The adult version had a lot of flowery prose.
I try to understand the dangers of AI and the exploitation of artists and don’t support the replacement of humans generally.
I looked first on Etsy and nobody had exactly what I needed and I didn’t have the bandwidth to create it myself.
Call me a luddite, but i will never ever give up real books by real humans.
Please House andrews, dont give up either 😆
Travis Baldree did a YouTube video with an example of AI reading text and him reading text and even though the AI was way better than I expected, the difference was huge.
Question concerning Roman’s name pronunciation: I’ve always read it as Ro’-man (long o, short a, emphasis on 1st syllable) just like the Roman empire. Listening to the audio, he is emphasizing the 2nd syllable. Is that what HA intended when they named the character? (This is me being slightly OCD about reading names correctly. 🙂 )
Never mind, I see a reply to a previous comment while I was composing my question.
The intended pronunciation is as in the voice clip, not Roman as in the Empire 🙂
When this first broke, I had just read a Roald Dahl short story written in 1953 called “The Great Automatic Grammatizator”. It’s ChatGPT. In its entirety. They took bestselling authors and fed their works into the machine, and the machine created new works. The best part was that most — but not all — authors agreed to have their stories written by the machine because the machine was better. There were only a few holdouts, those very few who could write better than the Grammatizator.
It was within a couple of days that I first heard of AI writing and ChatGPT. I literally had goosebumps.
Of COURSE KU will be flooded. Writers trying to make money on that platform now have to turn out a book/month. If they can use ChatGPT to publish every few days? And only taking days to create an artificial space? (Or upload to Amazon, I have zero idea how much time that takes). As it was a year ago, I cancelled my KU subscription because it was no longer a library, it was a machine.
I have faith, though. I have faith that Hollywood will go through another phase of original movies, that people will continue to buy from authors who employ editors (or publish through houses that employ editors). Because I have faith that there are enough people around the world who can recognize originality and quality to keep originality and quality afloat.
Yeah, can’t listen to the automated voice reading at all. My husband had to do many hours of online training to re-up his welding inspector’s license, all of it had that automated voice and it put him to sleep every time. It took him forever to get it finished because of the flatness and perfectly even rhythm to the reading. Now the material was pretty boring as well, but that is part of the problem with something like training, if the “voice” used is flat and, in essence, hypnotic people zone out and you have defeated your purpose. It’s worthless for fiction in my opinion. Audio books are not just someone reading out loud, they are voice acting and that takes a lot of skill and nuance. Which is why a good narrator is worth their weight in gold.
I am currently taking a class on Geoethics. This week’s discussion was about plagiarism in scientific works. Many people were VERY emphatic that AI written work is a form of fraud rather than a short cut even if the researcher did the fieldwork. I agree because I think that doing the write up is part of the process to understanding the data. Personally, it’s like we are seeing the end of human expression, even in dry scientific terms :)…
Love Chris Brinkley, can’t wait for this!
AI reading – no thanks.
Narrator for Roman – yes, please!!
The Midjourney illustrations can be pretty, however, there is no life to them.
Visit any art museum – you can feel the energy in all the exhibition halls.
The “faster, cheaper” ethos will give peoples’ minds the same indigestion their stomachs have from drive-thru dining….
When people discuss AI, I remember an old 4th Doctor Who episode in which the crew of a space ship came down with a phobia of robots/robot voices.
There’s just something vital missing from AI. People think of it as a mind, and it’s not–it’s the shadow of whatever minds direct it. When that group is skewed or doesn’t care about quality the end result is a quagmire.
Given the wreck that Gemini was for Google, that doesn’t bode well.
I don’t think AI is suited for everything. Just this week I was trying to return a pair of sandals (they were the wrong kind) and the company website, it’s refund department, nothing on it worked. They’d gone to an AI for that, and it crashed. I had to call them direct, and it still took two tries to get the right label sent to me.
AI is great if you’re trying to collate data for a spreadsheet or make a graphic image with a set template. It doesn’t work when it has to interact with problems that have to be figured out on the fly. If it breaks, it won’t fix itself. From what I’ve seen, it creates twice to three times as much work. The customer service people I talked to were exhausted.
It’s going to be a wild ride for a while.
I’d have a lot less problem with AI art and books if they weren’t basically stealing from real artists and writers in order to create content. Also, in a lot of the AI art I see on Instagram, all of the people have the exact same faces no matter the character. It’s so cookie cutter.
at best I’d use ai briefly to find a reference for a style, but i would much rather pay an actual person. in fact I would pay extra for original hardcopies of art. Here hopefully soon I can find a great real life artist who can create what I want for a horror project.
Not just no to AI voices, but hell NO.
Still very much in the works, you did not miss it 🙂 . There was an update just last week, all the special editions have been autographed https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/no-roman-today/
We don’t have an official date yet, but summertime/ second half of the year is a good estimate 🙂
The AI attempt has Roman standing in the first sentence, hearing only the sound of his feet crunching the snow in the second sentence, and him resuming his journey in the next paragraph – arrrrgggghhhh. Plus wouldn’t the tree being pulled make some sound?
Plus, the AI has him wearing gloves instead of red mittens…
on an on-topic aside, does anyone else have Grammarly telling them to “Write faster with generative AI”?
It’s insane
Every time I read posts at work about AI, I remind my department that AI (and machine learning) are only as good as the people who program it. When I remind everyone, for some reason everyone relaxes over it. I can see it helping in the health care industry. For creative purposes, not so much.
If I read and/or heard something with a flatness to it, I would definitely fall asleep. I don’t care how good the story is “written”, snooze city for me. That flatness reminds me of the computers of the Kinsmen series that probed for implants and the PPP.
The audio Roman snippet made me smile and laugh. I laughed at the pronunciation of Shinar. The way Chris pronounced it in the cold read made me think of Shiner Bock beer, which is made in Texas. 😁😂
By the way, thanks Mod R for the correct pronouncement of Roman’s name. 😊
The AI nice is disturbing, and I could not listen to that. The writing is not something I could read either. It is definitely a lot of words without saying anything at all.
Virtual Voice is the subject of several postings on the Audible reddit page. People are frustrated with Virtual Voice titles flooding “new titles” searches. Audible’s search function was already clunky for the purposes of browsing for a new series/author and now you have to wade through Virtual Voice releases to find human narration. This is not good for the authors/human narrators.