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AI Voice Generation

Julius Gabel Norgaard is CMO at the fintech company Qvonto and co-founder of the PR and communications agency COPUS.

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The evolution of AI is set to drastically alter how we work, think and communicate, making way for a paradigm shift. I believe this technology will affect employment and company structures and significantly influence how customers engage with brands and products. In response, it is critically important that companies align their future strategies with this shift. Across industries, one of the most significant gains from AI will likely be in marketing and sales functions, underscoring AI’s impact on the consumer segment.

With the potential for billions in gained revenue, I occasionally hear people say they’ve missed the AI train. However, a McKinsey report reveals that while 90% of marketing and sales leaders believe AI should be used often for commercial purposes, 60% say their organizations rarely or never use it. This discrepancy highlights the gap between AI’s potential and its actual application. Being at the forefront of this transformation can strengthen your company’s position, and exploring practical applications is a crucial step in this direction.

AI Voice Generation: A New Frontier In Marketing And Communication

While most are familiar with ChatGPT, many other generative AI applications exist. Voice generation, however, is a whole new frontier. We’ve experienced the capabilities of Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant, but OpenAI’s Voice Engine takes the possibilities to an entirely new level. While I haven’t yet implemented it in a live project, I hope this article serves as an inspiration and a glimpse into the future of voice AI rather than a step-by-step guide.

AI voice generation technology has seen remarkable advancements in recent years, transforming how we communicate and interact with digital media. Unlike the early days of robotic-sounding voice synthesizers, today’s AI voice generators produce speech that sounds almost human. As technology advances, these voice generators are getting better at handling complex language features and delivering speech with incredible realism and nuance.

3 Potential Key Applications

A LinkedIn data insight earlier this year revealed that communication and customer support skills are among the most in demand for 2024, alongside leadership, teamwork and analytics. AI voice generation has the capability to cover these sought-after skills widely and will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of marketing and communications. It can also ease the workload for employees and free up more time for creative and high-quality work, leading to a better overall experience for employers and customers. Here’s how.

Content Creation and Marketing

AI voice generation can help streamline the creation of marketing materials throughout a company’s entire marketing strategy. It can be used for personalized welcome messages, video voice-overs and customer service bots. With consent, the technology could even clone a brand ambassador’s voice, ensuring consistency across platforms. This approach offers several benefits over using the actual voice, including scalability, consistent tone and quality, and cost savings. It also allows for quick and flexible content production.

Additionally, AI voice generation facilitates the quick and accurate translation of marketing materials while maintaining specific accents and tonalities. This reduces content creation costs and offers more personal and engaging possibilities across various strategies, platforms, geographies and cultures.

Enhanced Customer Support

Effective customer support can greatly enhance overall customer satisfaction and brand loyalty—crucial elements of successful marketing. AI voice generation will likely provide significant changes and improvements in this area.

We already see extensive use of 24/7 chat support driven by chatbots. With AI voice generation, this advantage will extend to telephone support, making the user experience more personal and attentive. The technology already includes options to provide support in over 100 languages, ensuring personal customer support worldwide.

AI voice generation can also transform customer support into a creative marketing tool. Customers can leave recorded reviews of products, campaigns, commercials or TV shows and connect with brand ambassadors, mascots or company leaders through voice cloning. This showcases the extensive possibilities of the technology. Additionally, it offers significant potential for assisting visually impaired individuals by providing more accessible customer support.

Employee Training and Development

AI voice generation can significantly enhance HR operations by automating routine tasks like onboarding new employees, conducting training sessions and answering common HR questions. This technology provides an efficient way to create engaging and personalized internal training materials.

With just a 15-second voice recording, AI voice generation can clone any voice. This allows employees to create learning content simply by writing it down, saving significant time on guides, training videos and similar materials. This personalized approach can enhance engagement, performance and productivity. Additionally, it provides opportunities for spoken feedback, easy-to-craft reports, and analytics generated almost labor-free by AI.

Risks And Considerations

Although AI voice generation offers many benefits, it also carries notable risks, including:

• Data privacy: Handling personal voice recordings can lead to privacy breaches if not properly secured.

• Misuse: Voice cloning technology can be exploited for impersonation and fraud.

• Ethics: Using cloned voices without proper consent raises ethical concerns. OpenAI faced criticism when it used a voice that sounded like Scarlett Johansson’s for its chatbot without her consent, highlighting the ethical complexities of this technology.

• Quality control: Poorly generated voices or inaccurate information can harm a brand’s reputation.

• Dependence: Overreliance on AI may lead to issues if there are technical failures.

Brands must address these risks to use AI voice generation effectively while maintaining trust.

Final Thoughts

AI voice generation technology offers businesses significant advantages in today’s digital landscape. It can enhance communication strategies, boost customer engagement and streamline internal processes while reducing labor costs. Leading this shift will improve efficiency and enable more thoughtful, strategic and creative work. It allows consumers to connect with support services for general inquiries while reserving human interactions for more emotional or complex matters. It also aligns internal processes and connects marketing efforts across markets, products and platforms.

However, adopting AI technologies presents challenges. Companies must navigate ethical questions, ensure data security, comply with regulations and consider the energy consumption associated with AI. Thoughtful consideration and proper education are crucial for AI voice generators to become efficient, ethical and standard business practices.


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