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Even as the publishing industry comes to terms with AI fakery, Melania Trump announces "the future of publishing": her AI-narrated audiobook autobiography
The First Lady of the United States is all aboard the AI train with her new announcement, even as the NLRB reviews the use of AI voices in gaming
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Even as Fortnite game makers face a National Labor Relations Board complaint over using AI to voice Darth Vader in the current season of the popular game, the First Lady of the United States has brazenly jumped on board the AI train, announcing that an AI version of her voice will narrate the audiobook of her memoir.
The announcement was made, perhaps unsurprisingly, on Elon Musk-owned social media platform X, where Melania Trump’s account posted, “A NEW ERA IN PUBLISHING […] I am honored to bring you Melania - The AI Audiobook - narrated entirely using artificial intelligence in my own voice. Let the future of publishing begin.”
"Begin" might not be the right word to use here. Trump is partnering with AI company ElevenLabs for the audiobook, and she’s far from the first to do so: such luminaries as Sylvester Stallone and The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia have made similar deals in the past. Still, it’s an appropriately Trumpian move to pretend this is a beginning of something big, especially when “Let the future of publishing continue after Sylvester Stallone’s already done it” doesn’t sound nearly as impressive.
Of course, even ignoring the NLRB/Fortnite situation, it’s unfortunate timing that Trump’s launch of her AI-narrated book comes in the same week that the publishing world has been dealing with another AI story, thanks to the Chicago Sun-Times and King Features Syndicate publishing an AI-generated summer reading list of non-existent books. Other people might have considered delaying the launch for a few days to avoid such connections being made, but the future of publishing just couldn’t wait, it seems.
It might be worth remembering that many people believe that Melania Trump’s autobiography was ghostwritten. If that’s the case, it’ll be almost fitting that the audiobook will be ghost-narrated, as well. Perhaps that is the future of publishing: an autobiographical audiobook that the author had no meaningful contact with whatsoever.
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