Audible launches AI-powered Maven for audiobook searches and recommendations

Audible, owned by Amazon, introduced an AI-powered search feature called "Maven" on Wednesday, aimed at refining audiobook searches for users. Starting today, a select group of U.S. customers can use Maven to receive personalized title recommendations by inputting natural language queries. Available on iOS and Android, Maven will initially be accessible to about half of Audible's U.S. customers, though it will cover only a subset of the audiobook library.

In addition to Maven, Audible is testing AI-curated collections and AI-generated review summaries, potentially akin to Spotify's AI-generated playlists. This move follows reports of increasing use of AI-voiced audiobooks on Audible, which has sparked concerns among creatives about the impact on narrator jobs. As of May, over 40,000 titles featured AI narrators, a number that has likely grown. Audible plans to continuously improve Maven, leveraging multiple AI models to enhance its capabilities.