AI voices are becoming more prevalent in everyday life. From the social media voice overs to the ads you’ll be shown on the web.
It’s often a cheaper option to hire an AI voice over instead of a human voice, and can be more convenient as far as direction is concerned.
This post is going to explore how AI is developing in the voice over industry, and whether this could pose a threat to traditional, human voice overs.
The growth of AI voices
The use of AI voices in modern media has risen over the past decade. From social media posts and general voice overs, to ads, voicemail recording and even narrations.
In a recent research study, respondents claimed they’ve seen an average rise in the use of AI voices by 54%, which is unsurprising considering the modern resources in place to facilitate an AI voice narration.
AI voice over can be a quick solution to get your point across to your targeted audience, without having to worry too much about the type of voice over that can represent your brand. That being said, whether an AI voice is effective may be more prevalent in certain niches, i.e. the technology niche.
What AI voices are used for?
An AI generated voice can be used for an array of purposes. Some of which include: general narration, gps systems, virtual assistants, IVR systems and elearning voice overs – To name a few.
You’re better off using an AI voice for something related to machinery, picture it like a virtual voice coming from a piece of technology, be it a computer, phone or interface. But one may also choose to use one for the sake of convenience.
With extra configurable options such as adding pauses, the speed of speech and more, it’s no surprise why they’re becoming ever more popular.
Anything that doesn’t necessarily need to sound too human-like, can make the best use of an AI voice over. Though there have been further developments in making AI voice overs sound more realistic.
AI voices are becoming more realistic
AI today isn’t like AI a few years back. With recent developments in deep learning, researchers have made it so AI voices are not just that stereotypical robot-sounding cliche.
Nowadays AI voices can sound more natural, be configured to evoke a certain emotion, regional accent, pause like we do in natural speech, and capture other subtleties that used to only be possible through a human voice over.
That being said, like with all technology, ai voices aren’t yet completely perfect. To assume AI voices can capture absolutely every single country, city and region, and sound natural across all selected options, is a bit far-fetched to say the least.
We’re still a while away before the AI voice over is considered better than the everyday voice talent you’d find at a voice over agency.
Will AI voices surpass human voice overs?
In short, the answer’s no. No matter how realistic an AI voice may sound, we’re not going to see traditional voice overs go out of fashion any time soon.
The natural nuances of the human voice can’t simply be emulated through technology (not without extensive development), although we may see a rise in the use of AI voices for projects involving machinery, technology or interactive systems (like a voicemail greeting).
All in all, human, personable voice overs aren’t about to go out of fashion. The world still longs for the creative expressions that can only be evoked by a person, not only that, but a human voice simply sounds better than a computer generated one.