Nowadays, it’s so easy to create podcasts. One can use an AI, feed the text into the system, and let AI do the talking for them. For a while, I contemplated taking that route.
Yet, as I keep hearing these AI-generated voices, pronounced with elegant twang no doubt, what stood out for me is its robotic monotony, devoid of souls.
They’re also unable to pronounce Filipino words properly. I cringe when I hear the AI voice butcher “ibong Adarna”, “Datu” or even “ate”. “Ibong Adarna” is a mythical bird of the epic Ibong Adarna by Huseng Sisiw, one of the cornerstones of Philippine literature. Datu pertains to king while ate is a respectful way to address an older sister. In my local tongue, these are exquisite words with gravitas that deserve to be spoken with grace and softness, with the cadence of Filipino pronunciation.
So I decided to read The Tale of the Golden Tree myself. My reading is raw and unpolished. Yet, I treasure it all the more because of it. It is real, a reading from my soul to yours.
Listen to it here.