There’s a valid debate out there regarding the use of AI.
I think we can all agree that the capabilities of AI are amazing, especially when we consider what it was like a few years ago until now. It’s seen exponential improvement, sometimes on as little as a daily basis.
There’s a camp of people vehemently opposed to the use of AI, especially when it comes to creating artwork and using it for tasks that typically would have required paying a human. This has led many down a path of fear. Not just an “AI is going to turn on humans” type of fear, but one that people fear will lead to lower human intelligence, less jobs for humans, no human created artwork, and the list continues.
The fears are valid. But as with many fears, where all that can be seen is the worst outcome, they won’t all come true. I firmly believe that the AI fears will shake out and not be as bad as everyone imagines. Will there be bad things that come of it? Sure. But we humans have an ability to adapt and make things work when circumstances change. There will be good things to come from it, also.
Because of these fears regarding AI, many people judge those who use it. They look down on them. They try to cancel, invalidate, or berate them. Again, the list continues.
I’m not allowing judgement to give way to fear.
Why do I say that?
Recently, I looked into converting another one of my books to audio. I was curious if an AI narrator would be a good option. In the process, I found ElevenLabs. And wow! The quality of the audio narration, the ability to tag emotions, the quantity of voices to choose from and even create, astounded me.
I went from not having anything in audio for this book last week at this time, to having a completed, high-quality narrated audiobook uploaded for distribution.
Am I cutting out a human narrator by doing this? Yes, I am. But due to cost, I wouldn’t have hired one anyway, if it was my only option. So, am I really cutting out a human narrator?
The other benefit from using digital narration is creative control. I chose how each character sounded and what emotions to convey throughout the story. It was like being a producer or director of an entertainment production because … well … that’s what it is.
Some may judge me negatively for taking this route. And that’s fine. It’s not something I’m going to sit here and fear. If all goes well with this release, I plan to go through my entire catalog of books and convert them to audio.
Which one of my books will be available in audio format? Next week, I’ll reveal it, along with details regarding its release.
See you then!
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