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Writers And Voice Actors Respond To Audible’s New Plan To Use AI For Book Narrations 

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Audible recently announced that they will be using artificial intelligence (AI) to narrate audiobooks and translate works as well. Many writers, voice actors, and translators have responded to this new phase of audiobook listening, and aren’t happy with the decision to have technology take away jobs from hardworking individuals.

Audible, owned by Amazon, said that it will be using its AI production technology with certain publishers through “select partnerships,” according to reports. 

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“We are bringing new audiobooks to life through our own fully integrated, end-to-end AI production technology,” Audible published on their website.

Audible will be providing managed production where publishers have the choice to produce their own audiobooks with their AI technology.

Publishers can choose from over 100 AI-generated voices in English, Spanish, French, and Italian to narrate their books. The first audiobooks using this technology through Audible will likely be available later in the year. 

“Audible believes that AI represents a momentous opportunity to expand the availability of audiobooks with the vision of offering customers every book in every language, alongside our continued investments in premium original content,” said Bob Carrigan, the chief executive of Audible.

“We’ll be able to bring more stories to life – helping creators reach new audiences while ensuring listeners worldwide can access extraordinary books that might otherwise never reach their ears.”

Writers, translators, and voice actors have responded to this advancement with disappointment, stating that using AI to voice a book takes away the sincerity and beauty of storytelling. 

“This shortsighted scheme reduces what we love about storytelling to the simple delivery of code. In an age of declining literacy, I can’t think of anything more likely to put people off listening to audiobooks altogether,” said Chocolat author Joanne Harris. 

“[Human narrators] actively sell audio content by being good at their jobs,” said Kristen Atherton, who narrated over 400 audiobooks on Audible. 

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“The art – and it is an art – of a good audiobook is the crack in the voice at a moment of unexpected emotion, the wryness of good comedy timing, or the disbelief a listener feels when one person can convincingly be a whole cast of characters,” she said. 

“No matter how ‘human’ an AI voice sounds, it’s those little intricacies that turn a good book into an excellent one. AI can’t replicate that.”

Stephen Briggs, who voices audiobooks said: “The use of AI to replace human creativity is in itself a dangerous path. 

Actor and audiobook narrator Deepti Gupta said: “We need to create more, not less, space for Bipoc narrators, and these AI tools are a new way to marginalize and colonize the voices that need to be heard.”

“Time after time, generative AI has been shown to produce lowest-common-denominator results, while human translators, while fallible, use their personalities and the serendipity of the human mind to produce unique solutions to linguistic and literary problems, thereby creating art,” Nichola Smalley, who translates Swedish and Norwegian literature into English, said.

Literary translator Frank Wynne said: “No one pretends to use AI for translation, audiobooks, or even writing books because they are better; the only excuse is that they are cheaper. Which is only true if you ignore the vast processing power even the simplest AI request requires.”

“In the search for a cheap simulacra to an actual human, we are prepared to burn down the planet and call it progress,” he stated.

Dr. Susan Kavaler Adler psychologist psychoanalytic psychotherapist writer

Fear of Success: Opening Up Love and Creativity | Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler

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Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler, a renowned psychologist, psychoanalytic psychotherapist and writer, has spent her life diving into the depths of the human psyche, unraveling the complex tapestry of fears, traumas, and desires that shape our existence. Her work, deeply rooted in psychoanalytic theory, has touched the lives of many, offering a path to healing and self-discovery. Dr. Kavaler-Adler passionately explores one of the most intriguing themes in psychology: the Fear of Success. 

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lionsgate

Lionsgate Partnering With AI Firm To Advance New Generative Model

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Lionsgate has signed a deal with Runway, an artificial intelligence research firm. In the deal, Runway will gail access to Lionsgate’s large movie and television library and be able to train new generative AI models. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, the model will “be customized to Lionsgate’s proprietary portfolio which includes hit franchises such as John Wick, Saw and The Hunger Games. The aim is to help film-makers and other creatives augment their work through the use of AI,” according to the Guardian.

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“Runway is a visionary, best-in-class partner who will help us utilize AI to develop cutting-edge, capital-efficient content creation opportunities,” said Michael Burns, Lionsgate’s vice-chair. 

“Several of our film-makers are already excited about its potential applications to their pre-production and post-production process. We view AI as a great tool for augmenting, enhancing and supplementing our current operations.”

“The deal will save Lionsgate millions and millions of dollars.”

Through the deal, both companies are aiming to utilize their technology to help filmmakers create a storyboard for a project, and eventually background scenery and special effects.

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The deal was announced the day after Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, signed two new bills that will work to restrict the use of AI replicas or performers. 

The bills were initially passed last month and gained the support of members of the Hollywood union Screen Actors Guild after their new contract was enacted with new protections following the writers and actors strike. 

“We’re making sure that no one turns over their name, image and likeness to unscrupulous people without representation or union advocacy,” Newsom said. 

“In a world where it is becoming difficult to distinguish between a real photograph and a generated one, we believe it’s absolutely pivotal to understand the ways generative AI could impact nonfiction storytelling,” a statement from Archival Producers Alliance read.

NYC Broadway

Study Finds Only 20% Of New York Theater Productions Are Written By People Of Color

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In an annual study released by the Asian American Performers Action Coalition, it has been found that there are major gaps in racial representation and wage amounts when it comes to white writers versus people of color writers on the New York stage. In the same regard, some theater non-profits were listed as spending up to six times the amount of money on white actors when compared to actors of color. 

“The Visibility Report: Racial Representation on NYC Stages” analyzed the 18 largest non-profit theaters, as well as Broadway production companies in New York, that occurred during the 2017-2018 season. The report did find that the year gave Broadway it’s first play written by an Asian American, Young Jean Lee’s Straight White Men, however, it also warned against celebrating small victories like this, as they can “often serve as the poster child of diversity for a particular season, encouraging a false sense of progress.”

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The fact that it’s taken Broadway this long in general to hire an Asian American playwright has been staggering for many critics in the report, and many realize that the 2017-2018 season is only further reflecting the systemic inequalities of racial representation on and off the stage in New York. 

In the 2016-2017 report, it was found that 86.6% of all Broadway and off-Broadway shows were written by white people and 97% of all directors were white. This year, the numbers dipped slightly with 80% of writers and 86% of all directors being white, but essentially, these numbers have always been around the same. 

The report showed that when it came to on stage performers, 60% of all roles on New York City stage went to white actors; to give it some perspective only about 32% of all New York City residents are white, so the on stage roles aren’t reflecting the off stage reality. 23% of all roles went to black actors while only 6.9% went to Asian American actors. 6.1% went to Latino actors, 2% went to Middle Eastern or North African actors, and only .02% went to Indigenous actors. 

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The study was released months after more than 300 stage artists of color signed a letter addressed to “white American theater” as an institution, and called them out for the complete lack of representation on and off the stage, a well as the lack of opportunities made available for people of color on the NYC stage. 

“We have watched you un-challenge your white privilege, inviting us to traffic in the very racism and patriarchy that festers in our bodies, while we protest against it on your stages. We have watched you promote anti-blackness again and again.”

The report also found that when it came to actor wages, non-profit theaters in NYC spent $1.70 for every $1 spent on an actor of color. The wage gaps vary by company but to give an example the Roundabout Theater spent $6.09 on white actors for ever $1 spent on actors of color; the Atlantic Theater was $1.46 for every $1, and the report claimed that a similar gap was “highly likely” to exist on the Broadway stage, however, Broadway productions don’t publish their salaries. 

The end of the study worked to give a similar impact as the 300-page letter, and called upon NYC theater companies to start reflecting the diversity of the streets on the actual stage. When theater reopens in 2021 (tentatively) it will be a unique moment of opportunity for New York to expand their horizons and catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to equality.

Covid-19 on Billboard

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Writers Interviewing Doctors About Covid-19 For Upcoming Season

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Shonda Rhimes’ “Grey’s Anatomy” is one of the most popular/longest standing prime time medical dramas to hit our television screens. Like all television shows and movies right now, the future is unknown as to when our favorite actors/actresses will be able to return to the studio to deliver more gut-wrenching monologues and complex love triangles, however, for “Grey’s Anatomy” specifically, the writers already have a solid starting point for where to begin their next season: the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“Grey’s Anatomy” executive producer, Krista Vernoff, spoke at a Television Academy panel this week, where she said that Dr. Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo, and her colleagues have been treating some of the most intense medical emergencies for over 350 episodes now, so it only makes sense that they would also have to face the worst global health crisis the world has seen this century. 

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“We’re going to address this pandemic for sure. There’s no way to be a long-running medical show and not do the medical story of our lifetimes.”

Vernoff said that the Grey’s writing team is having constant discussions with real-life doctors working on the frontlines of the pandemic currently. She claims that they want to do these essential workers justice in capturing the emotional toll that they have to endure while saving countless lives everyday. 

While the show normally interviews real-life medical professionals to ensure accuracy in all of the plot-lines, Vernoff says that this time is much different.  “It’s really painful to listen to these doctors. It’s really painful to realize what they’re going through on a daily basis.” 

As of right now, all Hollywood productions and broadcasts are for the most part indefinitely cancelled until the pandemic gets more under control. In the meantime the Grey’s team has spent their days writing and imagining what the future of the show will look like, while also donating medical gowns and gloves to healthcare workers in the meantime. 

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As mentioned the writers for the show are continuing to work through the pandemic for the next season of Grey’s despite not knowing when they’ll be able to film it. The process involves bringing in doctors to tell their personal stories working in a hospital, and while that experience is normally either extremely joyful or sad, this year Vernoff claims these meetings have felt more like therapy sessions for these doctors. “We’re the first people they’re talking to about these experiences. They’re literally shaking and trying not to cry, they’re pale, and they’re talking about it as a war that they were not trained for.”

While Vernoff won’t reveal any specifics, she claims that the literal life-and-death decisions Covid-19 has forced real doctors to endure needs to be reflected in the storylines, as it’s important for the world to see what our healthcare industry workers have been/are continuing to take on every day. 

“They’re holding people while they die. They’re having to decide who lives and who dies. They’re having people die who would not have ever died from whatever their medical condition is because there’s COVID as a factor. It’s a lot.”

Vernoff ended the panel by claiming the show has always had a moral responsibility to show the world the real-life intense situations our medical professionals go through to keep us alive, and that responsibility has never been more important. As Covid-19 continues to be a problem in the world, the writers are doing their job by staying home and writing storylines that will reveal a totally different side to what many have likely seen from this pandemic.

Sports Team

Mass Staff Exodus at Deadspin as Writers Defy New Owner

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While ostensibly a sports-focused website, Deadspin has maintained a loyal readership base over the years by weaving social commentary and cultural criticism into its reporting, earning a reputation as a publication unafraid of speaking truth to power. However, after a private equity firm bought the website’s parent company, G/O Media, a rift emerged between the site’s new owners and the editorial staff, who strongly objected to various changes they were making at the publication. In keeping with their rebellious nature, Deadspin’s staff writers published posts criticizing their company’s new owners, revealing the extent to which managerial changes offended not only the website’s core staff but also the bulk of its readership. Though writers objected to changes like the introduction of auto-play ads and the prioritization of quantity over quality, the final nail in the coffin was a broad editorial edict to “stick to sports,” which writers understood to be code for “don’t write anything that will get anyone in trouble.”

The site’s writers initially reacted to this order with strong defiance; the site’s editor-in-chief, Barry Petchesky, featured a number of articles that did not concern sports but were nonetheless popular with readers on the Deadspin homepage, leading to his being fired. On Tuesday, October 29th, Petchesky announced his firing on Twitter. The following day, one by one, various other writers for the site announced they would be resigning in solidarity with Petchesky and in a total rebuke of the new management. As of this morning, more than half of the writing staff had left the company, and Deadspin has not been updated with any new stories, even in the aftermath of the Nationals’ historic win at the World Series. As such, the future of the website looks bleak; the Deadspin adored by a broad, loyal, and engaged readership is no more, and the brand is likely to be transformed into a clickbait farm or some other form of low-quality publication.

The collapse of Deadspin at the hands of an indifferent corporate class speaks to the negative impacts of a philosophy of putting profit above all else.

The mass exodus at Deadspin, which effectively killed the website, speaks to the importance of maintaining editorial independence in a media publication. In the article during which the site’s former editor-in-chief announced her resignation, Megan Greenwall described her understanding of the motivations of Jim Spanfeller, the company’s new CEO, thus: “he believed he could simply turn up the traffic (and thus turn a profit), as if adjusting a faucet, not by investing in quality journalism but by tricking people into clicking on more pages.” According to Greenwall, Spanfeller ignored evidence, both in the form of comments and traffic figures, that readers appreciated Deadspin for the variety of topics it covered. As such, Greenwall argued that the fundamental business model whereby writers and editors publish content that readers actually wanted to read, rather than maximizing volume in a narrow subject matter at the expense of quality, lead to the company’s financial success in the first place, which was jeopardized by decisions made by people who didn’t fundamentally understand the industry.

The widespread resignation of Deadspin’s staff is particularly notable in light of the reality of the current media landscape, where journalists are prone to fear of sacrificing their livelihoods for their principles, as it can be difficult to find work in the industry. Moreover, the collapse of Deadspin at the hands of an indifferent corporate class speaks to the negative impacts of a philosophy of putting profit above all else, and the self-destructive forms in which this philosophy, motivated by greed, can manifest. Ultimately, the loss of Deadspin is a loss to the broader world of sports journalism; the website was initially created as a response to the apolitical and at-times superficial ESPN and other sports media giants, and was founded under the belief that politics and cultural criticism are inextricably intertwined with sports, as they are with all aspects of life.