40 years have passed since cousins Anders Jacobsson and Sören Olsson published "The Tale of Sune". The anniversary is being celebrated with a new Sune book, "Party Fixer Sune", but this time the audiobook version on Storytel is not narrated by Anders Jacobsson himself.
Last year, the now 61-year-old author suffered a stroke and was therefore unable to do the audiobook narration as before. But instead of giving the assignment to an actor, he and Storytel chose to create an AI copy of Jacobsson's own voice.
Focusing on rehabilitation
"My voice has been associated with Sune since the start in radio 40 years ago", explains Jacobsson in a press release, where he does not rule out returning as a narrator.
"A stroke is not something that can prevent us from creating new stories. I am currently focusing fully on rehabilitation and hopefully will soon be able to read in new Sune stories myself", he says.
Sauk's AI clone
Actor Stefan Sauk was the first well-known narrator to allow an AI copy of his voice on Storytel. He has previously said that he is not afraid that the AI clone will replace him.
It's my voice that's reading, but it's not my interpretation. That can't be recreated, said Sauk to TT in February.
How common will cloned AI voices become then? According to Storytel's content manager Helena Gustafsson, the company is not currently working on cloning any other well-known voice in Sweden. She describes AI as "a fantastic opportunity" in this case.
Since AI is developing extremely rapidly, we're following it closely. But whether it becomes more common depends on how it's received by the audience.
