They say that there are always three sides to a story. Your side, their side and the truth.
What is being implied here, of course, is that humans are not reliable narrators. There is always some amount of subjectivity and opinion inserted so casually we may not even notice we are doing it. It seems that, similarly these days, there are also three sides to what’s happening on-screen: the visual side, the audio description narrated by a human side and now, most recently, the audio description as narrated by AI side.
So, let’s talk about this thing that’s been whispering (albeit somewhat sterile) sweet nothings into my earphones of late — AI voiceovers for audio description.
Now, you know me, I’ve used text-to-speech voices for years. Indeed, Trevor and I, (my beloved smart phone screen reader) still enjoy a very long and fruitful relationship. Still, being both a blind user of audio description and a human audio description voiceover myself, I feel we need to explore what I’ve decided to refer to as ‘The Rise of the Robo-Narrator Revolution’ in a little more detail. Will it really salvage my screen time, while systematically destroying my career?
One thing’s for sure; AI voiceovers are rushing in like teenagers at a cheap all-you-can-eat buffet — all eager, no chewing. They process scripts faster than a toddler demolishes a chocolate Digestive and they never ask for tea breaks. In fact, they never ask for anything! I can understand the appeal there!
For someone like me who is blind, audio description can be a lifeline. It gives colour to the scene, texture to the dialogue and meaning to that moment in The Crown when someone stares contemplatively at a cucumber sandwich. But while AI can churn words out at an impressive rate, it can’t always give them the soul behind the syllables. It may be efficient, but it isn’t exactly earnest.
Don’t get me wrong, AI voices are fantastic when you need consistency. They don’t get tired, don’t bungle their lines and won’t storm out of the studio if someone steals their lunch, (to be fair, I only did that once!).
They’re basically the dream employees. That is, if your dream employee were… well, an algorithm. They can produce audio description tracks with breathtaking speed. A script typed at 9:02am might be voiced, edited and served with a side of crisps by 9:05am.
But there’s something else we need to consider here. Storytelling isn’t just about saying things. It’s about meaning. We tell and listen to stories in order to connect. The content is satisfying sure, but it’s the connection which we are psychologically wired to crave. The pauses, the tone, the inflection can matter just as much as the words themselves. While AI may be word-perfect, human connection is much more complex and challenging to replicate.
When it comes to human narrators, I like to think of them as warm tea in a world of instant coffee.
Human voiceover artists do more than read. They interpret. They feel. They give warmth to a sentence in the same way that butter melts into warm toast.
A human narrates the heartbeat of a scene. This includes the hesitation, the joy, the confusion, the existential dread of a man who has lost his keys and his dignity. However, a human will need to pop to the loo every now and then. An AI on the other hand needs no loo breaks and narrates exactly what is typed — nothing more, nothing less.
It’s like the difference between your best friend telling you a story in your kitchen and your fridge reciting your shopping list. One is homely and comforting and beautifully imperfect, the other is flashy and cool, novel and efficient. All well and good, unless of course the fridge freezes mid-flow!
Voice artists also bring personality, and personality is empathy. When a narrator speaks about a quiet, lonely field, I want to be able to smell the grass. At times, AI can take some of the lushness out of the experience. AI has never smelled grass, so it knows no difference between narrating that line and one about the putrid scent from a public toilet. It’s all the same to them — which I must confess I sometimes envy!
However, the reality is that here in 2026, AI is knocking on the studio door with a platter of efficiency and an ever-increasing fan base. Some people might think this means human narrators will be as obsolete as floppy disks in a submarine before long. But hold your horses — and hold them gently — because there are some things machines don’t have.
They don’t have lived experience. They don’t have eccentric humour. They don’t have that deep understanding of what it feels like when someone in a film stares at a briefcase for longer than socially acceptable. Humans do.
This means instead of replacing voice artists, AI could become their sidekick — like Robin to their Batman (if Robin had impeccable timing and never asked for a cut of the royalties!).
AI can handle volume, generating drafts and supporting accessibility at scale. As a blind woman, this is exciting!
Human voice artists bring nuance. They give performances which resonate and which matter.
Together, it could be like making a perfectly executed cup of tea, with someone who genuinely cares whether you want milk first or last and who already knows you want a biscuit, without needing to ask!
We’re at a curious crossroads. One path is paved with algorithms doing the heavy lifting, excellent for quantity. Another path is scented with human expression, essential for quality. And the best path is somewhere in the middle, saving my job while reassuring me that losing my sight doesn’t have to mean losing myself when it comes to consuming media and feeling included in the story.
AI voiceovers are not the villain in this tale. They are the friendly robot in the background, (just like my Trevor) who bakes cookies and reads descriptions at the same time. Human voiceover artists are the ones who understand that a cookie is not just a cookie. It’s a memory, an emotion, a thing of beauty and a way to connect. Now I’ve dished out the biscuits, you take your pick!