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  2. If I may ask your indulgence:
August 23, 2025 at 4:05 PM

If I may ask your indulgence:

Douglas Pratt
@DouglasPratt

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I ask that you consider signing this petition. The Professional Audiobook Narrators Association works to persuade publishers and authors not to use AI in audiobook production. My many friends here have been very supportive of the work I've done over the last decade — and 95 books. A couple of you have even brought me their books to narrate, and I'm grateful for the chance to help their work reach a bigger audience. As of now, AI isn't as good as a real narrator but it will get better, and it's faster and cheaper than using a narrator. It may be a dying craft, but I will continue to work in it and try to improve as long as I can get work. If publishers know that their readers want better narration than AI can provide, it will at least extend the horizon of the craft. Thank you for your consideration. Clicking the logo should take you to the petition.

Recommended by MembersThis post was promoted to the Main Feed at the recommendation of Ricochet's members.

Discussion (20)

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    Percival@Percival·1y

    Done.

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    Old Bathos@OldBathos·1y

    Done.

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    JustmeinAZ@JustmeinAZ·1y

    Done

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    Matt Bartle@MattBartle·1y

    Every now and then I'll be watching a YouTube video and notice a weird pronunciation or a pause in the wrong place, and only then realize that it's an AI voice.

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    Chris O@ChrisO·1y

    Done. Given that Autotune cannot take a real voice and change the pitch without adding that tinny, digital sound, I have low confidence AI narrators will ever sound anything other than synthesized. That's not good enough. There are many videos on YouTube with AI narration and there is simply no way to connect with something that sterile.

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