Artificial intelligence-powered creative tools are abundant. ChatGPT, Midjourney, DALL-E 3, Sora… They’re cheap and user-friendly. Now, AI-powered voice generators are the latest tools to supercharge one’s creativity.
Here, we explore the world of AI voice generators and popular AI voice tools.
Table of contents
What is an AI text-to-speech generator?
As its name suggests, an AI text-to-speech generator is a tool that converts written text to spoken words.
For example, you enter a typed sentence, and an AI text-to-speech generator produces a recorded audio of how the sentence would sound if someone was to read it aloud. AI text-to-speech generators are available in major languages including English, Standard Chinese, French, Arabic and Japanese.
What features do the best AI voice generators have?
AI voice generators are typically trained on large datasets of audio. Some tools also include natural language processing (NLP) in order to make the audio produced sound more natural or human-like.
The four best AI voice generators of 2024
With so many cheap, accessible options out there, it can be difficult to pick the best AI voice generator. Here is a list of four of the best.
1. Udio
Udio made waves among X’s tech community when it was released in early April 2024. The AI voice generator was developed by former Google DeepMind employees. Using Udio’s basic features is free. Udio’s community has used the tool to produce impressive songs ranging from folk and jazz to hip-hop.
Our writer David was briefly hooked on Udio, and used it to generate some bangers.
2. ElevenLabs
It would be more accurate to describe ElevenLabs as AI voice cloning software. Celebs including Ariana Grande, Tom Hanks and Taylor Swift have had their voices cloned with the tool thanks to a legion of users on TikTok.
Users have to first download “voice samples” of their desired subject (e.g., a YouTube video of Ariana Grande speaking in an interview). Next, they feed those samples to ElevenLabs, and write a script for what they want the AI voice to say.
3. Murf
Besides being an AI voice generator, Murf offers features that let users add images and music to the videos they generate. So, you could say it’s an all-in-one AI tool for creatives.
Murf’s AI voices cater to different scenarios thanks to its selection of “characters”. Users can select voices like “podcaster”, “author”, “marketer” or “coach” before proceeding to generate an AI audio.
4. Synthesia
Synthesia is a powerful AI voice generator that can generate voiceovers in over 130 languages (let’s hope they have accents too, like the Aussie accent). The tool was founded in 2017 by a team of AI researchers from Stanford University, Cambridge University, and University College London (UCL).
Large corporations like Zoom are using Synthesia to produce videos. The tool has subscription tiers including a free trial with limited features, a monthly US$67 (AU$101) package, and a top-shelf enterprise package.
What is the best celebrity AI voice generator?
ElevenLabs is the preferred choice for large companies dabbling in AI. Founded in 2022, the company is currently valued at US$1.1 billion (AU$1.67 billion).
Although AI voice generators are impressive, they are now widely misused by opportunistic people to spread misinformation or defraud others. Early this year, when the US public panicked over deepfake Joe Biden robocalls, researchers revealed that the deepfaked voice was likely created using ElevenLabs.
In 2023 book publisher HarperCollins partnered with ElevenLabs to create AI-generated audiobooks for foreign-language titles.
Image: Andriy Onufriyenko via Getty Images
