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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE We're Losing Voice Over eLearning Jobs To AI Voices. What Should We Do About That?  By Christi BowenVoice Actor I lost an eLearning job recently. No big deal, happens to all of us, right? Only this time the loss wasn't to one of my
colleagues … but rather, to a machine.
My client told me that their client had chosen to use an AI voice
for budgetary reasons instead of working with me. This is happening more often in the eLearning
space. An eLearning producer told me
that AI voices are used for scratch tracks, and then are often left in when it's
for internal training, time sensitive or something that's constantly changing, to
save on time and budget. So where does
that leave us human eLearning narrators?
AI - IN VO WORLD NOW
Whether we like it or not, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
voices are now a part of the voice over world. I recently posted about this job-loss
event on my LinkedIn page and it's sparked an interesting commentary. Most of
the comments were supportive and in agreement that AI can never replace a human
completely - and certainly can't deliver customer service or build a long lasting
relationship with a client. There was surprising support from two European
voice over talent marketplaces, as well.
I know AI will never fully replace the human voice and the
relationships we build with our clients. But we are losing paying jobs to AI. HOW DO WE SURVIVE? I'm not the first to bring this up, and I haven't done all the research on it
that my colleagues Anne Ganguzza and Sophia Cruz have. But I do know that this
is an issue we all must become aware of and learn to adapt to.
eLearning is a growing genre in voice over. Customer and employee training is expanding
rapidly. With a workforce that is no
longer centralized due to COVID, companies have turned to online training even
more to educate their workforce.
So how do we human narrators adapt and survive? By offering more value and building a
relationship with our clients. Here are a few things I think we can do when
working with our clients or reaching out to potential clients. 1. Deliver great customer service.
2. Deliver a top quality product.
3. Remind clients of your humanity…and theirs!
4. Add value to the projects.
5. Be a resource for clients. Maybe they need a
voice different from yours, so recommend
your colleagues Offer to help with casting Offer to manage a multi-voice
project for them.
You might be doing all of these things already and that's
great. For the clients that need humans,
you're all set. But for those that are more
concerned (or pressured) by budgets and time, you may have to work harder to convince them to make that human connection.
ABOUT CHRISTI Christi Bowen has over 25 years of experience in voice over and
video production, and has been a full-time voice actor for 10 years. She's the Director of Corporate &
eLearning for ACM Talent, the Associate Producer of the VO Atlanta Voiceover
Conference, and also co-founded the meetup group Tennessee Voice Over
Exchange. She has
developed a roster of clients worldwide on many types of
projects - from commercials and corporate narrations to eLearning modules and
phone systems. Specializing in eLearning, she also has a passion for
political and automotive advertising. Her clients include L'Oreal, Walmart, General Mills, AAA Auto Club,
Quaker Oats, IKEA, Philips and many more. Christi has won two
Voice Arts Awards and two Pollie Awards for political voice over, and her corporate
narration work has garnered three The w3 Awards and two Tellys. She is also a finalist for two Reed Awards for political voice over.
Email: christi@christibowen.com Web: www.christibowen.com |
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https://m.soundcloud.com/samirnunezvo
It's not looking good for you guys, and I share your pain, but you need to wake up to the insane pace at which this technology is advancing because making improvements here and there won't help you in the semi-long run.
New voice tech in development are insane, they can replicate voices in a few seconds, they express through other sounds like breaths, small stutters, friendly inflections... Very soon we won't tell humans and synths apart. This is the bleeding edge but will trickle down in commercial applications and keep improving.
I don't say this to be a horrible human but to try to energize you to organize and sound the alarm to everyone because your jobs are disappearing first but this level of automation is coming for everyone else's.
Good luck people.
As unfortunate as it feels, from a business profit viewpoint, this is a bottom line decision related to budgets and expenses. Maybe it feels cold and perhaps a foreboding disaster if much of our own business relies on eLearning. There are things you can do.
As a voice actor myself, I've been fighting low prices in eLearning a long time, whether it is in-house employees doing the VO or now A.I. By fighting, I mean doing whatever I can to show the value of my eLearning VO rates. Sometimes no matter how much else you bring to the table, the clients go for a lower price because their value is based on cost.
So what to do? In addition to the good points you've made, Christi, we have to be looking ahead to trends and preparing our business for what may affect it. A.I. and similar technology have been on the radar for a bit. I hate it, sure, and also I'm ready to let go of clients who go in that direction.
Sometimes it's better to thank them for what business you had, let them know you're available if they change their mind, and let them go on without you. Sure - stay in touch of course. Their eventual experience with A.I. might turn out bad and thus they may come back to you. If not, you've been professional and helpful with integrity.
Keeping solid relationships with clients, where you really talk to them and know their business priorities, will help you. You can't control technology, nor your client's budget or internal team decision making.
You can:
- have a strong connection whereby they'll give you a heads up if they see a change in the horizon.
- keep looking for potential new clients
- develop your skills in eLearning
- stay on top of benefits and drawbacks of your 'competition,' be it human or not!
People are people.
Is AI that good?