Audible is adding a generative AI feature that lets listeners hold a spoken back-and-forth with a character from a story. Called Interactive Stories, it arrives as a beta later this autumn alongside the company's new Audible Original version of Bram Stoker's Dracula, out on October 1. In that first one, the count's put-upon servant Renfield hands the listener a part to play, an aim and something at stake, and answers in real time to whatever the listener says.
A second Interactive Story, made with author Benjamin Percy and set in the world of the coming original audio novel Exoplanet, is due on November 5. Audible's chief product and analytics officer, Andy Tsao, pitched the feature as something younger listeners want; Engadget's writer was doubtful, pointing to Pew Research findings that younger people tend to be wary of AI.
Two other additions need no conversation. Character Guide shows on screen who is speaking and offers spoiler-free cards for the cast; it already works with Audible's adaptation of Orwell's 1984 and is coming to Dracula and Exoplanet. Visual Explorer, a later beta, will bring up maps and pictures at key moments, starting with The Cultural Tutor's Grand Tour, an audio trip through six European cities.
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