First Lady Melania Trump has taken a solo step with her memoir by being among the first major public figures to leverage artificial intelligence to read her own audiobook. The move puts her at the forefront of a growing controversy over the use of AI in publishing and storytelling.
“I am honored to bring you Melania – The AI Audiobook – narrated entirely using artificial intelligence in my own voice,” Trump wrote in a post on X, along with a futuristic video. “Let the future of publishing begin.”
The seven-hour audiobook in English can be bought for $25 from the First Lady’s own website. In collaboration with ElevenLabs, the initiative also provides for the audiobook in Spanish, Portuguese, and Hindi, among other languages, scheduled for release.
AI, Autonomy, and the First Lady’s Memoir
Trump’s memoir first appeared in October 2024 during the peak of the presidential campaign. The book follows her on her path from Cold War Yugoslavia to life as America’s First Lady, chronicling her marriage to President Donald Trump along the way.
The memoir generated a great deal of media hype before its release, particularly when Trump had spoken up for reproductive choice. “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” she stated, a sentiment that was contrary to her husband’s political views.
The release timing of the AI audiobook is an interesting paradox. President Trump signed the bipartisan Take it Down Act during the week, aimed at nonconsensual deepfakes that are widely used for revenge pornography. First Lady attended the signing ceremony and spoke of the harmful potential of AI.
“Social media and artificial intelligence are the digital candy of the next generation, sweet, addictive, and intended to shape connectivity development among children,” she warned. “And unlike sugar, these emerging technologies can be used to manipulate beliefs and, regretfully, manipulate emotions and even prove fatal.”
Her decision to utilize AI for her audiobook just days after these comments reflects the ambivalent relationship that many have with artificial intelligence technology.
A Storm in the Audiobook World
The First Lady’s AI-read audiobook comes as the world of publishing struggles with the same choices. Audible, which is Amazon-owned, recently made public its intentions to utilize AI narration in “select partnerships,” praising it as a means of bringing audiobooks to more people in various languages.
“We’re producing new audiobooks using our own end-to-end, fully integrated AI production technology,” Audible claimed, citing benefits for publishers looking to publish in English, Spanish, French, and Italian.
But the action was greeted with derisive criticism from authors and voice actors. “Chocolat” author Joanne Harris condemned Audible’s action as “shortsighted,” saying it would damage the entire audiobook market.
“This short-term strategy reduces what we love about storytelling to code delivery,” Harris told the Guardian in an interview, bemoaning low literacy levels.
Voice actors and narrators have pushed back on AI technology, with the argument that human performance brings invaluable value to audiobooks. The industry has attracted A-list talent, including Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, who have narrated different productions.
The Future of Audiobooks or a Threat to Human Artistry?
Kristin Atherton, in an interview with the Guardian, described what is unique about human narration: “The art – and it is an art – of a good audiobook is the crack in the voice at a moment of unexpected emotion, the wryness of good comedy timing, or the disbelief a listener feels when one person can convincingly be a whole cast of characters.”
Critics contend that such unobtrusive human interventions positively stimulate audiobook sales and foster richer interactions with readers.
As artificial intelligence gets more sophisticated, Melania Trump’s audiobook is an intriguing experiment in whether political figures can employ the technology. Whether this is the start of a trend or an anomaly will probably be determined by the public’s reaction to AI-synthesized narration versus usual human performance.
The argument is wider still about the place of AI in creative industries, weighing the efficiency and accessibility of technology against the irreplaceable human aspects many feel are what make storytelling worthwhile.
