It is no secret that audiobooks have taken the publishing industry by storm, with a revenue of £226.3 million between 2025 and 2026 (IBISWorld). Industry conglomerates have bought into this lucrative business, with Amazon’s Audible establishing itself in 1997, and, more recently, Spotify introducing audiobooks to their listening services in 2022. Initially intended for increased accessibility, audiobooks are now predominantly used as relaxing background noise, useful for studying or commuting (Wallin, 2022). 

Recent developments in AI technology have invited concern regarding the reducing levels of human intervention and judgement. This concern has not bypassed the publishing industry, evidenced by the opening keynote of the 2026 London Book Fair. During an interview with Tom Weldon, Penguin Random House (PRH) CEO, The Bookseller editor, Philip Jones, brought up the controversies of AI in publishing, to which Weldon responded that PRH is committed to protecting intellectual property (IP) and human creativity, but are willing to utilise AI for ‘repetitive processes’ (Albanese, 2026). This precarious line is also being walked by Wiley who, in 2025, announced that they were going to partner with AI company Anthropic to enforce ‘responsible AI integration’ through increased accessibility to scientific research (Snow, 2025).  

Furthermore, some publishing companies have evolved with the changing times to a higher extent. For example, Audible announced in May 2025 that they would be expanding their catalogue to include AI narration and translation (Audible website, 2025).  While they highlighted that this move aimed to focus on translation by use of AI, the announcement was met with immediate online backlash. Author Joanne Harris told The Guardian that ‘this shortsighted scheme reduces what we love about storytelling to the simple delivery of code’, while audiobook narrator Stephen Briggs argued that this was a ‘dangerous path’ (2025). Particularly interesting is Audible narrator Kristen Atherton’s viewpoint in the same article, which highlights that the ‘crack in the voice at a moment of unexpected emotion…or the disbelief a listener feels’ when one person is a whole cast of characters is something which AI could never replicate. This stance is supported by Rodero and Lucas’ argument that audiobook listeners prefer human content, as they generate a more emotional response and enable a closer feeling for the audience to the narrative (2021). 

We have not heard the last of AI implementation in audiobooks, and while there is no available data on how widely Audible’s scheme has been implemented, the announcement certainly reflects a controversial way in which the publishing industry is moving. For example, in 2025 Popa et al proposed a new AI audiobook model, CantastorIA. This model would see AI being used to generate audiobooks with adaptive soundtracks to match the text’s emotions. Though there is limited evidence to show that the proposal of CantastorIA has been approved, this certainly shows how the industry is responding to the various threats, and opportunities, presented by AI.  

Despite ethical concerns and fears amongst the creative industries that AI-generated content is not only hindering human creativity but also slimming down the job market, it appears that AI and audiobooks are beginning to work in tandem. How far AI is incorporated remains at the discretion of the publisher, but it cannot be denied that the unpredictable nature of this technology is having controversial effects on the industry, and the future remains uncertain.  

Bibliography

Albanese, A. (2026) London Book Fair 2026: In Opening Keynote, PRH U.K. CEO Talks Book Fairs, AI, and ‘Red Lines’. Publishing Perspectives. [Online] Available at: https://publishingperspectives.com/2026/03/london-book-fair-2026-in-opening-keynote-prh-u-k-ceo-talks-book-fairs-ai-and-red-lines/ [Accessed on: 27/03/2026]

Audible (2025) Audible Expands Catalog with AI Narration and Translation for Publishers. [Online] Available at: https://www.audible.com/about/newsroom/audible-expands-catalog-with-ai-narration-and-translation-for-publishers msockid=273f34eed76663ab3fa922e9d61c62b1 [Accessed on: 31/03/2026]

IBISWorld (2026) Audiobook Publishing in the UK [Online] Available at: https://my-ibisworld-com.napier.idm.oclc.org/uk/en/industry-specialized/sp0.179/at-a-glance?entityId=6068 [Accessed on: 26/03/2026] 

Knight, L. (2025) Audible unveils plans to use AI voices to narrate audiobooks. The Guardian. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/13/audible-unveils-plans-to-use-ai-voices-to-narrate-audiobooks [Accessed on: 27/03/2025]

Popa, V. et al (2025) CantastorIA: Enhancing Audiobook Engagement Through Adaptive Soundtracks and Voice Cloning. Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining. Lecture Notes in Social Networks. Springer, Cham. [Online] Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-85240-4_17#citeas [Accessed on: 01/04/2026]

Rodero, E. and Lucas, I. (2021) Synthetic versus human voices in audiobooks: The human emotional intimacy effect. New Media & Society, 25 (7), pp. 1746 – 1764

Snow, M. (2025) Wiley partners with Anthropic on ‘responsible AI integration’. The Bookseller. [Online] Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/news/wiley-partners-with-anthropic-on-responsible-ai-integration [Accessed on: 01/04/2026]

Wallin, E. T. (2022) Audiobook routines: identifying everyday reading by listening practises among adults. Journal of Documentation, 78 (7) pp. 266 – 281

Image Credits

Audible (No date) Audible Logos [Online] Available at: https://www.audible.com/about/newsroom/audible-assets?srsltid=AfmBOorcGFfQIM2a2RfvVcDhDUTBMTWZNxOgglqpjCOF6OJJ4WgDRmig [Accessed on: 11/04/2026]