Can I make my own audiobook with my subscription?

Imagine this: On your subway commute home, instead of pulling out a heavy book to read, you say to your smartphone in your pocket, “Read my book to me.” Moments later, an artificial intelligence reads the text you’ve written or selected in a vivid voice, just like a professional voice actor. With the recent boom in “audiobooks,” this dream-like scenario is becoming a daily reality. But can we actually use our existing OpenAI subscriptions to create these audiobooks ourselves?

Why is this important?

Audiobooks allow us to acquire knowledge or enjoy stories even in environments where visual access is restricted. For content creators, in particular, converting their writing into audio opens a new channel to reach readers. In the past, this required renting a professional studio and paying high costs for recording, but an era is opening where anyone can create audiobooks from their writing much more cheaply and quickly using artificial intelligence (AI).

Simplified: The principle of audiobook production

The process of making an audiobook can be divided into three main stages: first, preparing the text (writing); second, converting that text into sound (TTS, Text-to-Speech); and finally, delivering the finished file to readers.

To put it in perspective: ‘Text’ is the fresh ingredients before cooking. ‘Speech conversion AI’ is the chef who cooks these ingredients deliciously, and the ‘distribution platform’ is the restaurant that delivers the finished dish to the customers.

OpenAI’s tools are a great help with ‘ingredient preparation’ and ‘basic cooking’ among these. For example, OpenAI Playground is a very useful free AI tool for generating or editing text [Source 2, Source 7]. You can use it to refine scripts for audiobooks.

Current state: Tools you can use

While OpenAI offers a customized subscription service worth $2,000 for businesses [Source 5], individual users need to combine more specialized tools to produce audiobooks.

1. Text-to-Speech (TTS): You can use services like Luvvoice to input text, select the desired voice, and immediately download it as an MP3 file [Source 13]. It is very intuitive and easy for beginners to use.
2. Comprehensive Creative Studio: Pika Labs is a creative platform that handles not just video and images, but also audio. It has the advantage of offering a free tier or one-time credit packs without the burden of a subscription fee [Source 12].
3. Distribution Channel: Once the audiobook is complete, you can upload it to platforms like ACX to officially sell and market it to readers [Source 11].

Of course, there is also a way to create more refined scripts by training the AI on your own documents using OpenAI’s API or Langchain [Source 8].

What will happen in the future?

Moving forward, AI voice actor technology that can act with human-like emotions will advance further, going beyond simply reading text. Also, while users currently have to combine these tools themselves, we expect “one-stop” services that convert entire books into audiobooks with a single click to become more popularized in the future. This will be an opportunity for authors to secure a wider audience and provide an environment where readers can conveniently consume more diverse content.

AI’s perspective: MindTickleBytes AI reporter’s view

As technology advances, the meaning of ‘creation’ is shifting toward ‘skilled tool usage.’ If you have an OpenAI subscription, let the AI read your writing right now. The journey to finding your own voice is not so far away.

References

1. [Source 2] How to Use OpenAI Playground Tutorial (ChatGPT…) - YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmzmPNsEpNM
2. [Source 5] $2,000 ChatGPT OpenAI Subscription Created to Replace Your…, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ajazshussain_2000-chatgpt-openai-subscription-created-activity-7275190203542061056-2JHf

3. [Source 7] OpenAI Playground: How to Use the GPT-3 Chatbot

   Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/reference/openai-playground

4. [Source 8] Langchain PDF App (GUI)

   Create a ChatGPT For Your…, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUAUdEw5oxM

5. [Source 11] ACX, https://www.acx.com/?ref=seoraporu.co
6. [Source 12] Pika Labs - AI Video, Image & Audio Creative Platform, https://pikaslabs.com/
7. [Source 13] Luvvoice: Free Convert Text to Speech Online, No Word Limit, https://luvvoice.com/