HarperCollins Publishers has announced a new partnership with ElevenLabs, a leader in advanced text-to-speech technology, to produce audiobooks for their foreign language titles. This collaboration aims to bring to life select deep backlist series books that would otherwise remain in print alone. However, many have criticised the move amid growing concern over the lack of scrutiny over artificial intelligence.

Mati Staniszewski, CEO of ElevenLabs, expressed enthusiasm about the new venture, stating, “We’re thrilled to collaborate with HarperCollins and delighted that our technology is making it possible for more books in their incredible catalogue of works to become an audiobook. Without AI, there simply wouldn’t be the time or resources to make this happen. Now, every author can see their work come to life in audio, readers can be offered more choice, and the linguistic barriers of content can be dissolved.”

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The partnership will use ElevenLabs’ Projects tool, specifically designed for publishers and independent authors. This tool allows for the creation of an audiobook in as little as one hour, offering features like customisable voices, the assignment of text fragments to specific speakers, and the ability to adjust pause lengths between text segments while ensuring contextual cohesion.

HarperCollins will integrate this AI capability as a supplement to its current strategies, which continue to rely heavily on voice actors. Elevenlabs states that the addition of text-to-speech technology will allow HarperCollins to expand its audiobook offerings, particularly in non-English markets, thereby increasing the diversity and availability of titles in audio format and promoting growth in global audiobook markets. According to Good e-Reader, the publisher, however, has stated they remain committed to producing more audiobooks in the future using real human voice actors.

Backlash over AI audiobooks

However, many have taken to social media to reprehend the move, stating that they were “tired already of companies jumping head first into ‘AI’ without concern for consequences or other issues inherent in the tech.” Media analyst Simone Umba, who uses the handle @SimplySimone on TikTok, has said that “AI in publishing has been a complete mess, you literally have publishers taking companies like ChatGPT to court over copyright…as a reader, this is the worst possible thing that could happen”.

The deal is international, “so it will be rolled out across different markets,” a HarperCollins spokesperson told Publishing Perspectives, “including the UK.” HarperCollins adds, “The agreement will lead to the production of audio versions of select deep-backlist series books that would not otherwise have been created.” However, the Society of Authors recently revealed that a third of translators were losing work to generative AI.