To A.I. or Not A.I.?

Audible Book Creations

Well friends, that has been my long-standing policy. ABSOLUTELY NO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, NO A.I. My concern has been with labor-replacing technology, but it has especially concerned me as a small book owner. I grow outraged when writers use ChatGPT or A.I. to create their books.

I own a small charity press, Barrio Blues Press, where I design my own books, have a human editor, and hire a cover creator. NO A.I.

But, it’s hard not to use A.I. The invasion is prolific, and you can’t turn the tide. It’s everywhere on Zoom in your search engines and now, Amazon Audible. You can’t turn the tide, and the temptations to use A.I. are deep.

Lase week, I broke my own resolve. I have always wanted Audible books, but have not been able to afford hiring a voice actor. Amazon now has a new feature on K.D.P. (Kindle Direct Publishing) where you can create Audible books. So, like an idiot, I went for it.

Amazon created the books almost instantly, and the voice? It sounds very close to a human narrator. It is eerie, but SO good. The rapidity was frightening, if I’m being honest, and it was so easy to craft the Audio book with the push of a button.

However, the guilt of having produced these books still remains. This morning, I had a close friend of mine caution me that the press might get boycotted. It happened to a friend of mine who had an Audible book created this way without his consent. He got boycotted and one-star reviewed. I’m not saying I’m experiencing any of this backlash, but the guilt is there.

So, much as it pains me, I’ve decided to delete a majority of the Audible books. Some will remain that were indie published and the ones for poets who are okay with the Audible books because they too love the idea of having them, but moving forward, I’m either going to crowd fund to hire a voice actor OR create them myself.

We have a studio at my college, and I now have the software to do it, Muse Hub and Audacity. The problem is, of course, time, and I don’t particularly like the sound of my voice. I’m not a trained actress, but maybe with time, I will get better at it.

What are your thoughts on Amazon’s new Audible creator? Would you use it to create an Audio Book?