But in potentially eroding the livelihood of another kind of small operator (the voice artist), the new digital narration technology doesn’t so much stand up for the little guy as set the interests of two different little guys against each other.
In a further twist, the datasets used to train Apple’s digital voices have, in some cases, been reported to include the work of existing voice artists, drawing their considerable indignation.
In presenting itself as disrupting “big audiobook” and favouring small players, Apple’s marketing follows a recognisable trope. This involves a technological “disruptor” touting the ability of individual operators to participate in previously closed-off areas of commercial activity without passing on the corporate profits made through such “inclusivity”.
What is perhaps unsettling about this new technology, then, is not the unfamiliarity of its powers but the familiar ring of “platform capitalism” – when big companies provide the technology for others to operate.
The frequently-sued Uber and the frequently-banned Airbnb have by now lost much of their sheen as engines of accessibility. Their initial identity, however, was grounded in the use of democratic rhetoric, from Uber telling potential drivers “you’re in charge”, to AirBnB’s claim to be founded in “connection and belonging”.
So the use of pseudo-altruistic language by tech disruptors is nothing new. What is new is the window onto this seductive fiction offered by the encounter with AI narrators. After all, the self-deception involved in assuming that your narrator is human parallels, in many ways, the self-deception required to believe that Apple’s digital voice technology is an altruistic development.
Reflecting on the connection between these acts of imagination is necessary because, so often, it’s easier just to believe. It’s easier just to believe that your Uber driver is there for the flexibility, that your Airbnb host is just a neighbourhood guy rather than a property conglomerate that owns half the street.
It’s easier to believe, but it’s not always easy to identify and understand the dynamics of this belief. The experience of listening to an artificially-intelligent narrator might help us catch our own brains in the act of self-deception – including the act of buying AI-narrated audiobooks because a marketing website tells us it’s the democratic thing to do.
Airbnb has lost much of its sheen as an engine of accessibility. Image by freestocks-photos, Pixabay
