Is AI Taking Over Audio — Radio, Podcasting, Audiobooks?

According to the M.I.T. Technology Review, rather than building thousands of smaller buildings, tech giants are investing in massive “hyperscale” campuses, with some individual AI sites requiring up to 5 GW of electricity—more than the peak demand of entire U.S. states like New Hampshire.

Frank Racioppi

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has already seeped into our society, culture, economy, and daily routines. AI decides who gets their health claim paid. AI help millions with their administrative work at their jobs. AI answers our phone calls when we have a customer service problem. Millions of students try to use AI to ease the burden of learning, or to cheat.

It was inevitable that AI would infiltrate the audio industry. In this article, we will appraise where AI has already affected the audio industry – audiobooks, radio, and podcasting. We will also assess how the consumer evaluates AI in the audio industry.

Let’s start with audiobooks. Last week, Spoken, the AI Audiobook Company™, released an intersting, “independent” research study conducted by Edison Research at SSRS showing that Spoken’s multi-cast narration outperforms conventional human narration in engagement, favorability, and perceived quality. The study focused on character-driven fiction – the most prevalent category in today’s audiobook market – marking a pivotal moment for the use of AI in the publishing industry.

The study randomized over 1,000 adult U.S. fiction audiobook listeners into two blinded cohorts, each experiencing samples of a new sci-fi thriller as either a professional, single-narrator human production, or an unedited, one-click Spoken Multi-Cast™ narration. As industry stakeholders increasingly explore AI narration to meet the surging demand for immersive storytelling, this research offers the first large-scale look at how consumers respond to AI technology integrating distinct voices for each speaking character, a format historically reserved for full-cast human productions.

“Up to now, we’d only measured consumers’ opinions on the concept of AI narration,” said Megan Lazovick, vice president of Edison Research. “For the first time, we were able to measure real-time reactions to excerpts from an actual audiobook. Would there be a difference in acceptance between AI narration and human? What about listeners’ willingness to listen or purchase? Could they distinguish the AI version from human? What we found was a clear signal that quality matters, no matter how the narration is produced, and listeners are open to whatever improves their experience.”

Spoken CEO Phil Marshall added that this data confirms what he’s believed since founding Spoken: “As an audio-only reader myself, getting lost in the story is what matters most. At the end of the day, what readers want will drive decisions in the industry. High-quality, multi-cast narration is what readers want, and a less expensive, one-click solution is what authors and publishers want. With Spoken’s unique, patent-pending approach to layering multi-character scenes, we are able to deliver on that promise with an immersive audiobook experience that readers will pay for.”

Podcast consultant George Witt casts a skeptical eye on the study. “Of course, It is somewhat suspect that the study, while not conducted by an AI audiobook company, validates the business model of the company that funded the study. Didn’t tobacco companies use this tactic in the 60s to convince people that smoking was not dangerous to their health?”

• According to the study, while only 31% of listeners said they’d be likely to listen to an AI audiobook at the start of the survey, after hearing an excerpt, 65% – more than double – said they’d be likely to listen to an audiobook narrated using Spoken Multi-CastTM.
• They can’t tell the difference: 61% of those who heard the Spoken version thought it was human, while 65% thought the human was human.
• The study also concluded that quality and immersiveness are more important than cost and celebrity: The top factors increasing likelihood of listening to AI-narrated audiobooks were improved quality, greater immersion, and using multiple character voices, not hearing a celebrity voice.

These findings arrive at an important time for the audiobook industry. According to Grand View Research, the global audiobook market has experienced double-digit growth for many years and is projected to surpass $35 billion by 2030.

The Survey Methodology was as such: More than 1,000 U.S. fiction audiobook listeners were randomly assigned audiobook excerpts using human narration or Spoken Multi-CastTM AI narration and were asked a series of follow-up questions. The data was weighted to match the demographics of audiobook consumers as established by The Infinite Dial 2026 by Edison Research at SSRS and SiriusXM Media. Each treatment group was also weighted to match each other by age, gender, ethnicity, and interest in Sci-Fi/Fantasy audiobooks.

“Narrators don’t just read words; they sense and express the feelings beneath the words. AI can never do this job because it requires decades of experience in being a human being,” counters Audiobook narrator April Doty in The Guardian.

Adam Verner in The Literary Hub notes that, “When a book is narrated aloud, a double art form is achieved, the book is interpreted by the narrator, who acts as a lens for the listener. Just as there are many productions of Ibsen’s A Doll House, and each is unique to the actors and theatre performing it, every recitation of a book is a singular performance.”