A well-known crime writer of my acquaintance had recently self-produced several of his earlier novels from decades ago as audiobooks. There are various outlets where writers and small press publishers can find voice talent to narrate a book. ACX, essentially a subsidiary of Audible, is one of those venues, with an interactive online presence. There under its FAQs the potential customer is informed, “You can pay by the finished hour, arrange to split royalties, or opt for a hybrid,” if a narrator, or narrators, are interested in working with you on your book. Not for nothing, as Audible will inform you, it is “the United States’ largest audiobook producer and retailer.” The entity was bought by Amazon more than fifteen years ago.

Meanwhile back to this this old school writer. He hasn’t used humans to narrate his older work, he used an AI outfit – that presumably charged less than real life voice talent. Not only does the raw recording have to be done, but editing and other polishing is done to make an audiobook. There are now quite a number of companies wherein the machine, with some human or another doing the fine-tuning, transforms your prose into a simulacrum’s version of dulcet tones. Narrating text is hard work. I’ve had the opportunity to voice a few of my short stories as well as pay out of pocket to additional human beings to self-produce a collection of my short stories. 

No matter the level of experience, humans flub lines, screw up pronunciation, or have to re-record entire passages for whatever failing of flesh and/or technology. That’s why the rate, which varies from who is providing the voice talent, is per finished hour. But advances in the development of synthetic voice production are such that nuance, emphases chosen, the cadence the talent brings to the table, sometimes with the intercession of an audiobook director, it’s becoming much harder to distinguish the robot from the mere mortal.  

A good number of folks who narrate audiobooks also work in other areas where ones’ voice is the instrument of entertainment and information – and the source of a paycheck. In addition to audiobooks, voice actors are employed in radio and TV commercials, industrial films, documentaries and the mammoth industry of video games. SAG-AFTRA’s video game workers went on strike on July 26. This after eighteen previous months of frustrating negotiations.  The workers held a picket at Warner Bros. Games in Burbank, on August 1. At the heart of the strike was the “existential threat” of generative AI.

As SAG-AFTRA has posted to the membership and the public on its site, “Video game performers are fighting for our livelihoods, and we’re facing a pivotal moment: Employers at some of the largest video game companies want to use A.I. to replace us using our own performances without compensation, transparency or consent.”

Can there really be guardrails put in place regarding the ethical use of generative AI? You don’t have to be an economist, Keynesian or otherwise, to keep in mind those who control the means of pop culture production have and always will be concerned with profits and loss. How to increase the former and decrease the latter. If the electricity doesn’t go out, AI doesn’t get tired, doesn’t show up late and can’t demand fair wages or withhold its labor.

An allied union the Animation Guild, held another rally, “Stand with Animators” on August 10 also in Burbank. The rally was a precursor to the Guild’s negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) when the master agreement expired on August 17. From the animators’ point of view, they seek to prevent generative AI being used to replace human art with machine art.

Yet as more out-sourcing, consolidation and downsizing continues, it’s the gig economy manifesting itself in what we collectively call Hollywood. Piece work as opposed to steady work. Not only voice actors, but line producers, editors and on and on aren’t working in their chosen careers but are now teaching middle school, becoming line cooks or have moved out of state to be able to afford housing, looking to start over in some other field. 

“This is your opportunity to experience expressive narration, ambient sounds, Foley [sound] effects, and background music tailored to your narrative.” This was part of the come-on I received recently unsolicited in an email. This particular enterprise as part of the sell said I could send them a brief sampling of my writing and they’d produced a five-minute AI version with all the bells and whistles so outlined. I’m not tempted to bite their holographic apple, at least for now. 

Reluctantly I’ll admit there’ll be temptation to hear a sample of my work once I get the next generation of this email. The one informing me an entity can deliver full cast recordings, a la radio dramas, incorporating the above-mentioned flourishes as well as multiple voices. Or so the seductive stentorian AI voice will tell me when I click on the link.

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