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Comment by latexr | Hacker News Reader

> pipe in an epub, output an audiobook or video game content.

That falls into “replacing voice actors”, mentioned by the OP.

No, it really doesn’t. There are thousands of very smart and talented creators without the budget to hire voice actors. This lets them get a start. AI voices let you lower the barrier to entry, but they won’t replace most voice actors because the higher you go up the stack, the more the demand for real actors will also go up because AI voices aren’t anywhere near being able to replace real voice actors.

> AI voices let you lower the barrier to entry, but they won’t replace most voice actors because the higher you go up the stack, the more the demand for real actors will also go up

That is as absurd as saying LLMs are increasing the demand for writers.

> because AI voices aren’t anywhere near being able to replace real voice actors.

Even if that were true—which it is not; the current crop is more than adequate to read long texts—it assumes the technology has reached its limit, which is equally absurd.

As another reply put, I'm very skeptical that the benefits for small content creators will offset the damaged to society as a whole, from increased fraud and harassment.

What if I want to listen to my notes in my own voice

Or my favorite books in my own voice.

Or my lecture notes in my professor's voice.

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