To AI Or Not To AI

I need your help.

I love audiobooks.  Most of my book consumption is by listening to audiobooks.  I can easily read them during my day job while I’m doing data entry. It has always been part of my plans to release audiobooks for my stories. 

It’s always been a distant goal since they are costly to produce. And as much as I want to, I can’t afford at the moment to hire an audio producer and have audiobooks of Chaos Wolf and Chaos Hunt created. So I thought audiobooks were out of reach for me until I am more well-established as an author.

Then Google announced they are making and selling AI-generated audiobooks. 

I have mixed feelings about this. When it comes to fiction, AI isn’t quite there in terms of emotion. Most vendors such as audible do not accept AI-generated audiobooks at the time of posting.  It also potentially takes work away from talented voice actors.

On the other hand, this would be a very affordable way to get into audiobooks. It word be clearly marked as AI generated and sold on Google Play and possibly a few other vendors.  I would eventually want to have a real person narrate my books and offer both for sale.

So what do you prefer?  Would you like an AI-generated audiobook to listen to right away, or wait a few years for a possible book narrated by a voice actor?

Let me know here.