By Millicent Weber
Publication Date: 2026-06-02 20:10:00
The news about AI and audio books is piling up. Australia-based audiobook producer Bolinda recently announced that it will be creating a “bespoke” AI clone of the voice of best-selling romance novel Barbara Cartland in collaboration with her estate. (She died in 2000.)
Two days later, Spotify announced a tool (developed by ElevenLabs, a synthetic voice company) that allows self-published authors to create AI-voiced audiobooks on its platform and publish them anywhere.
Meanwhile, a recent New York Times expose exposed AI-powered audiobook piracy on a massive scale on YouTube, with versions of everything from literary novels to Harry Potter, from business bestsellers to John Grisham appearing. A pirated copy of his latest legal thriller “The Widow,” accompanied by an “AI Slop” video, has over 80,000 views. Listeners called the voice “boring” and “horrible.”
“If you’re looking for a bestseller, you can find a free audio book on YouTube,” said the CEO of the United States…
