Microsoft and Apple just announced stunning advancements in voice AI that are going to change how marketers and businesses work.
Microsoft has announced the release of a new AI model called VALL-E, which can synthesize voice using just a three-second audio sample and preserve voice style, intonation, and emotion.
At the same time, Apple is rolling out AI for audiobook narration, where AI creates a “digital voice based on a human narrator.”
Why It Matters
- Voice AI is moving way faster than expected. Just one year ago, we investigated using voice AI for the audiobook edition of our book Marketing Artificial Intelligence. Back then, Google needed 40 hours of audio content to clone your voice. Microsoft’s new model requires three seconds.
- It will have some major positive impacts on your content. Voice AI will make it much easier to make content accessible via audio. They also make it much more cost-effective to produce audio that sounds like you. Think, voiceovers, audio summaries, personalized messages, and narration.
- But there are obvious dangers you need to be thinking about. We’re entering the Wild West when it comes to voice AI. What’s stopping someone from using your podcast to clone your voice? What happens when someone pretends to be your CEO or founder? How do you handle illegal uses of your voice to manufacture fake testimonials? There are currently no easy answers to these questions, but the technology exists today to make these nightmares into realities. And government regulations are not moving fast enough to keep up.
What to Do About It
Voice AI provides unprecedented opportunities and challenges. To fully grasp those opportunities and challenges, you must start to understand the implications of AI on your career and your business—and you must act fast given the rate of technological innovation happening in the space.
One of the best ways to do this is by taking our Piloting AI for Marketers course series, a series of 17 on-demand courses designed as a step-by-step learning journey for marketers and business leaders to increase productivity and performance with artificial intelligence.
The course series contains 7+ hours of learning, dozens of AI use cases and vendors, a collection of templates, course quizzes, a final exam, and a Professional Certificate upon completion.
After taking Piloting AI for Marketers, you’ll:
- Understand how to advance your career and transform your business with AI.
- Have 100+ use cases for AI in marketing—and learn how to identify and prioritize your own use cases.
- Discover 70+ AI vendors across different marketing categories that you can begin piloting today.