Chinese search engine "Sogou" is creating artificial intelligence simulations to read popular novels in the voices of the authors.
This engine announced the "living" avatars of Chinese authors Yue Guan and Bu Xin Tian Shang Diao Xian Bing - created from video recordings - at the China Online Literature+ conference.
Last year, Sogou launched two AI newsreaders, which are still used by the government news agency Xinhua.
The appetite for audio-books in China is growing, thus reflecting the trends in the West, writes "Koha Ditore". The China Media Research Institute expects the market to more than double between 2016 and 2020, to 7.8 billion Chinese yuan (£900 million) a year.
It is now a simple process to use text-to-speech technology to quickly generate an audio version of a book, using digitized synthetic voices.
But most people prefer audiobooks that have "professional narration" by famous authors, actors, or public figures.
And now, advances in machine learning and speech-to-text technologies mean that digitized voices are coming to life.
also
China introduces the "robot speaker"
For example, the company Lyrebird allows customers to create custom "vocal avatars" from just a one-minute recording of their voices.
On its website, the company showcases its services with two audio recordings of former US President Barack Obama and current US President Donald Trump, created using machine learning.
Meanwhile, London-based tech start-up DeepZen says its synthetic speech technology can create multiple versions of an audiobook within hours, cutting time and costs by around 90%. .
