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Audible announces AI-powered character guides, interactive stories, more
Audible today announced three features coming to “deepen customers’ connections to their favorite stories.” Here are the details.
Starting today, Audible users listening to the Audible Original Bram Stoker’s Dracula audiobook will be able to access Character Guide, right from the player page.
This is a new feature that shows who is speaking in real time, and provides spoiler-free cards with details about each character and the performer behind each voice, “complete with narrator headshots and bios.”
Audible adds that, coming soon, Character Guide will also allow listeners to ask questions about the production as the story unfolds.
Character Guide is also available with Audible’s adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, and will be included with Benjamin Percy’s Exoplanet when it launches on November 5.
In addition to Character Guide, Audible today announced two other AI-powered features: Interactive Story and Visual Explorer.
Audible describes Interactive Story as a “bonus experience beyond the original narrative,” explaining that it will allow users to have real-time conversations with characters from supported audiobooks.
The first Interactive Story accompanies the Audible Original Bram Stoker’s Dracula and follows the character of Renfield, Dracula’s unpredictable, tormented servant. The character speaks first, assigning the listener a role, goal, and stakes; the listener responds in their own words, and the character reacts in real time.
The platform notes that creators have control over multiple aspects of the interaction, and adds that after Dracula, Benjamin Percy’s Audible Original Exoplanet will get the new experience.
As for Visual Explorer, Audible says it will “surface relevant imagery and visual context at key moments during listening,” whether it’s a map to help listeners better visualize where the story is unfolding, or an image “tied to a pivotal moment” in the narrative.