Rise of the Robots! AI Voices in eLearning

DIY Narrator: For Instructional Designers Who Narrate eLearning

Ok, I’m just going to start by saying I’m obviously biased in my opinion about where AI can (should?) live in the eLearning narration world.

Full disclosure, in the last year (2020) around 50% my income was from eLearning Narration work. There was a HUGE surge in people needing to produce virtual training, especially in the upskilling/certification world.

Not necessarily in the world of corporate learning, that was honestly pretty steady compared to 2019, for me at least.

That said, I try to keep my eyes on future advances in technology related to voice and learning, things that might impact my future as a voice talent. In the last couple of months I have seen a handful of articles touting the “benefits” of AI voices in eLearning narration.

It’s mostly been focused on saving money and speeding up production. No one seems to be talking about how the learners feel.

Or how effective it is at accomplishing the real goal… learning.

Setting my bias aside, I want to hear from you in the community.

What do you think?

Is it a handful of companies producing AI voice avatars simply targeting an industry that uses voices and is often very budget conscious?

Or…

Are we a decade or less from the rise of AI in eLearning and the end of eLearning voiceover for DIY and Pro alike?

Knowing full well, we can’t predict how good these robots will get, I still feel we’re a long way off from a robot expressing empathy or urgency in their read.

Let me know your thoughts. Shoot me an email or look me up on LinkedIn.