The company «Yandex» has improved the reading service Bookmate, integrating a virtual narrator. «Yandex Plus» users can now listen to books in real-time without using pre-recorded audio versions.
The virtual narrator is designed for reading books aloud. It was created based on Yandex's speech technology complex (also used in the virtual assistant Alice and other company services).
The smoothness of the digital narrator's speech is honed thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). This makes listening as comfortable as possible.
The demand for audiobooks is constantly growing, but most works do not have audio versions. Our goal is to ensure that the format is not a barrier to books.
The press service noted that the service was synchronized with «Yandex Music» and Alice. Currently, 13 thousand books are available for reading, and this list is planned to be expanded.
Currently, the voiceover is done in a male voice, but a female voice will also appear soon. Famous narrators and actors — Georgy Karmryan and Natalya Gracheva — participated in their creation.
To launch the service, simply activate the button with the narrator in the electronic version of the work. The function will be available to users of the application on Android and iOS.
«Bookmate» is a book service with 250 thousand electronic and audiobooks. You can read and listen to them in the «Bookmate» application, on «Yandex Music» and on devices with Alice. The service is available by subscription to «Yandex Plus» with the «Bookmate» option.
Earlier www1.ru reported that Yandex Translator improved with the help of AI.
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