OverDrive is the company that provides a lot of digital content to libraries. If you’ve borrowed an ebook or an audiobook in Libby, or read a magazine in Kanopy, that’s OverDrive.
It seems there is some AI weirdness with audiobook narration on OverDrive, and the narrator is only part of the story.
On Monday, October 14, librarian Robin Bradford posted on Bluesky that she’d purchased an AI audiobook for her library system and she was really upset about it:
Robin Bradford on Blussky saying Good Morning, BlueSky. I'm annoyed at myself today because I bought an AI audiobook that sucks. Clearly, I need to pay more attention to who the narrator is, instead of just buying the title because someone wants to listen to it. Hope your Monday is going better than mine!
Also, when I go to the book author's webpage it is....incredibly bare. I wonder if the whole thing is AI now. Books, audiobooks, everything. Well, the good news is we only have 9 audiobooks, by 3 authors, with that AI voice. The surprising news is one of the authors. The sketch news is all 3 author websites look eerily similar, and now I have more questions than answers. And I'm hungry. My list has grown to 101 titles by a group of "narrators' going by different names. I guess, on the bright side, they are at least labeling them. But I wish they didn't have them at all. And I'm going to be so much more careful about what I purchase even if people want it.
Over 100 titles by AI “narrators” were in their catalog, and Robin was having trouble finding indications that the authors themselves are real?
Interesting.
The authors with AI audiobooks in our catalog: Blake Pierce, Molly Black, Fiona Grace, Rylie Dark, Kate Bold, Ava Strong, Jack Mars, Taylor Strk, Mia Gold, Laura Rise, Audrey Shine, Sophie Love, Ella Swift, Vin Strong, Katie Rush.
Not only is that A LOT of audiobooks, but similar to my casual foray into contemporary romance cover art, I noticed that there was an odd pattern to those author names:
- Mostly one or two-syllable first names
- One-syllable last names
- All very basic nouns and adjectives as surnames
That homogeneity is a little strange, right? Good thing I’m really nosy.
I reached out to Robin for an interview to learn more. What had brought this to her attention? What was her next step? While we were corresponding, we both searched names and author websites for more information.
This is really weird, y’all.
Her investigation started when she received a message from a patron of her library system that there was something wrong with an audiobook they had borrowed.
Read the full article: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2024/10/ai-audiobook-narrators-in-overdrive-and-the-issue-of-library-ai-circulation-policy/
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